Reflections on Contemporary Life
One's journey through life often takes a winding path that mixes exploration, conscious choice, and chance encounters. So it is with the events which brought Monika Steinhoff into her role as an artist. Born in WW II Germany, growing up the daughter of a weapons scientist at Peenemuende Germany and Alamogordo, New Mexico (White Sands); graduate training in literature at Berkeley; and creative re-birth as a painter. This ricochet trajectory of personal growth is manifest in images that reflect the archetype of "journey" as a central theme. Look deeply and you will see this evident in her work, which is grounded in her personal and familial history, and yet simultaneously speaks to the events that affect us all as a society and joint tenants of the world.
Thus hers is work imbued with a social consciousness. Clear-cut logging and atomic emblems mark her landscapes. Dancers near Los Alamos degenerate, dissolving into skeletons before our eyes. Soldiers stand near the ancient Mayan pyramids of the Yucatan. Missiles sprout up in forest groves in lieu of trees. Steinhoff does not lose sight of the fact that there is much darkness in our world, and many problems we want to solve.
But while wandering the path with her, moving through her images and seeing with her eyes, along the way one also finds a mysterious assortment of recurring characters - fools, gorillas, goddesses, and trees. Seemingly benevolent in nature, these guised beings stand as wayside helpers, sages, fellow pilgrims, and even out inner selves. They are icons standing for broader concepts, while also being concrete individual manifestations. As such, they remind us of the paradox that appearances both reveal and mask the nature of the being within, of our individuality.
Indeed, if the work is about the encounters of a transformative journey, her process of painting reflects this. As Steinhoff once stated: "When I start to draw on the prepared ground, the mental image often becomes very elusive, but in trusting the unseen link between hand and mind, letting it flow, these images emerge, expressing a life of their won. I'm at their service, a satisfying collaboration. At the same time it is always an adventure into the unknown, a journey for me, visually and spiritually, discovering meaning as I go. There are thousands of crossroads, each resulting in different effects. My intuition dictates which choice is 'right'".
Certainly one of the tendencies of art history is that it is prone toward viewing an artist in terms of "pedigree"; in terms of lines of descent from its ancestors. That is, it likes to look at someone's work and relate it to the imagery of past artists. Among her contemporary artistic influences Steinhoff lists George Tooker and Odd Nerdrum. And of course Frida Kahlo makes an obvious and striking choice for comparison. Indeed, the Mexican master was known for the way she infused her personal iconography and life experiences into something larger, and created an imagery which transcended her won being to speak to us without loosing its sense of uniqueness.
Another case can be made to compare her work to Paul Gauguin. The great French Post-Impressionist set out from the industrialized world of Europe in the late 1800s to find a primitive utopia as an antidote to modern conditions. Immersing himself first in Tahiti, yet finding even that too westernized, he settled in the remote Marquesas Islands. His was a journey far removed from hers, yet perhaps a kindred journey nonetheless. A century later she seeks a "Tahiti of the mind," and in fact this romanticism is part of the draw that New Mexico holds for her. And like Gauguin, some find her work "primitive;" much in the sense the word is used to qualify folk artists. But that is at best an over simplification, and at worst seriously misled. She paints sophisticated ideas with a gentleness and a sense of flow that mirrors her pre-occupation with transformative change - via events which transcend the moment: drawing from our histories, and carrying forth into the future.
Why have these perils and helpers, events, and characters manifest themselves on the path? Whereas there are clear-cut forests, there is no one clear-cut answer. But to view her paintings is to witness and identity parade, a cavalcade where beings stand sometimes as specific individuals, but more often as players one might encounter on the path of life. Friends? Selves? Others? Fellow travelers caught in the travails of existence, or apparitions and spiritual beings encountered along the road leading through the predicaments of our society? I think both are true, but the latter more so. Be it the path of an individual or a people, we find ourselves immersed in a process of lowing between experiences. If we are wise, we learn from these encounters.
[Ellen Berkowitz ?]
Thus hers is work imbued with a social consciousness. Clear-cut logging and atomic emblems mark her landscapes. Dancers near Los Alamos degenerate, dissolving into skeletons before our eyes. Soldiers stand near the ancient Mayan pyramids of the Yucatan. Missiles sprout up in forest groves in lieu of trees. Steinhoff does not lose sight of the fact that there is much darkness in our world, and many problems we want to solve.
But while wandering the path with her, moving through her images and seeing with her eyes, along the way one also finds a mysterious assortment of recurring characters - fools, gorillas, goddesses, and trees. Seemingly benevolent in nature, these guised beings stand as wayside helpers, sages, fellow pilgrims, and even out inner selves. They are icons standing for broader concepts, while also being concrete individual manifestations. As such, they remind us of the paradox that appearances both reveal and mask the nature of the being within, of our individuality.
Indeed, if the work is about the encounters of a transformative journey, her process of painting reflects this. As Steinhoff once stated: "When I start to draw on the prepared ground, the mental image often becomes very elusive, but in trusting the unseen link between hand and mind, letting it flow, these images emerge, expressing a life of their won. I'm at their service, a satisfying collaboration. At the same time it is always an adventure into the unknown, a journey for me, visually and spiritually, discovering meaning as I go. There are thousands of crossroads, each resulting in different effects. My intuition dictates which choice is 'right'".
Certainly one of the tendencies of art history is that it is prone toward viewing an artist in terms of "pedigree"; in terms of lines of descent from its ancestors. That is, it likes to look at someone's work and relate it to the imagery of past artists. Among her contemporary artistic influences Steinhoff lists George Tooker and Odd Nerdrum. And of course Frida Kahlo makes an obvious and striking choice for comparison. Indeed, the Mexican master was known for the way she infused her personal iconography and life experiences into something larger, and created an imagery which transcended her won being to speak to us without loosing its sense of uniqueness.
Another case can be made to compare her work to Paul Gauguin. The great French Post-Impressionist set out from the industrialized world of Europe in the late 1800s to find a primitive utopia as an antidote to modern conditions. Immersing himself first in Tahiti, yet finding even that too westernized, he settled in the remote Marquesas Islands. His was a journey far removed from hers, yet perhaps a kindred journey nonetheless. A century later she seeks a "Tahiti of the mind," and in fact this romanticism is part of the draw that New Mexico holds for her. And like Gauguin, some find her work "primitive;" much in the sense the word is used to qualify folk artists. But that is at best an over simplification, and at worst seriously misled. She paints sophisticated ideas with a gentleness and a sense of flow that mirrors her pre-occupation with transformative change - via events which transcend the moment: drawing from our histories, and carrying forth into the future.
Why have these perils and helpers, events, and characters manifest themselves on the path? Whereas there are clear-cut forests, there is no one clear-cut answer. But to view her paintings is to witness and identity parade, a cavalcade where beings stand sometimes as specific individuals, but more often as players one might encounter on the path of life. Friends? Selves? Others? Fellow travelers caught in the travails of existence, or apparitions and spiritual beings encountered along the road leading through the predicaments of our society? I think both are true, but the latter more so. Be it the path of an individual or a people, we find ourselves immersed in a process of lowing between experiences. If we are wise, we learn from these encounters.
[Ellen Berkowitz ?]