Apparition Collage

Merrill Steiger is a mid-career artist, living and working in Westport, CT. She has exhibited extensively in both solo and group exhibitions at museums, university galleries, art fairs, and galleries nationwide. Her work is in a number of public, private, and permanent collections.   Cosmic Imaginarium, her newest series, is inspired by vintage science fiction pop-art. Steiger’s memories of childhood growing up in the 50s find themselves in the whimsical, yet mysterious expression of what lives in outer space. In this series, Steiger furthers her passion as a colorist, along with her continued interest in the use of dotting to evoke dynamic life force in space and beyond. In conjunction with textures and patterns, she turns flat, two-dimensional design into three-dimensional stories by shaping and layering multiple levels of mixed media.     Typical for Steiger, her paintings reflect the extensive collage compositions that she begins each series and painting process with. Having an avid interest in science fiction, through movies and books, she explores this world through her own imaginary landscapes. Her combination of science fiction elements with pop-art imagery brings the unknown to life and reminds the viewer of life’s fantastical and fun nature.   Super Nova, the newest of the series, is a dynamic statement of what Steiger imagines would happen in the cosmos during a supernova event. Her use of color enhances the piece’s main goal: balance of composition and design. Her inclusion of pop-art elements play homage to the fantastical nature of space and beyond while still revering the magnitude of cosmic space.   In Spaceships, Steiger was inspired by vintage postage stamps to create a three-dimensional world of life in space. As is expressed throughout the series, she uses reversed imagery for balance, playing with how both mirroring and slight variation complement one another in overall aesthetic and tone.   An extension of an earlier series, Sci-Fi, Cosmic Imaginarium is a continual nod to what lives beyond our human reality here on Earth. Its accessible and hopeful tone is an invitation to feel the interconnectedness of the universe while bringing imagination into reality.