"I am powerfully attracted to objects of adornment, particularly traditionally feminine objects such as flowers, fabric, beads and jewels. At the same time, I am wary of the allure of shiny things— objects desired—and the endless hunger to consume which drives our culture to destroy the natural world, and one another, in their pursuit. I use my painting as a means to explore the dynamic tension inherent in this attraction/destruction dichotomy, to pursue my affinity for ornamentation, for beauty, for excess, and to experience and interpret on a core level my relationship with the ever-endangered natural world.

Stylistically, my paintings are influenced by a wide range of contemporary, folk, textile and religious art, the spectrum of which grows more broad and deep with time. Influences include traditional Indian and aboriginal painting, psychedelic art, graphic design, Japanese landscape painting, medieval Catholic illuminated manuscripts, Victorian imagery, art nouveau and more. The work is rendered primarily in oil and gold leaf on canvas, in series of twenty to thirty paintings, painted in many layers, over time." ~ E. Steiner

JAN 13 - MAR 9, 2010