Drawing a Line by Kara Q. Smith, Pat Steir/Tom Marioni @ Crown Point Press

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I don’t know why I felt so driven to point this out, but I think it’s funny that Pat Steir is in a show with Tom Marioni at Crown Point Press.

It’s an exhibition with beautiful, if unlikely balance. Tom Marioni’s most recent color drypoint prints are minimal yet expressive. The movement of Marioni’s marks accentuates the expressive aquatint colorscapes of Pat Steir. Together, you can tell the works are full of intention and I can find forms within the conceptual formlessness. Comparing Marioni’s Drawing a Line to Steir’s Mountain in Rain both 2012, one notices the difference in texture, in process. 

The truth is, it’s not funny in the oft-typed “ROFL” or “LMAO” expression that Marioni and Steir have been paired. It’s a sneering kind of funny, the kind that leads to a less-ironic, more-liminal state of exploration and questioning of my desire to create a dialogue between the trajectories of these two artists.”