“My work is self-explanatory,” Walter Steding remarks. Unfortunately, that isn’t always true of Walter himself.
While listening to Steding ramble on is a fascinating experience, there’s a chance that the answer that he’s giving you is not exactly on the topic of the question asked. When queried about his fascination with history, for example, he responds with a monologue about the difficulty of understanding string theory.
However, that propensity to digress does nothing to take away from the talent and thought that has gone into the work currently on display at the Howl! gallery’s 6 East 1st St. location.
Titled “This Is My Voice,” the East Village exhibition contains a mix of portraits and allegorical tableaus that reflect the state of things as filtered through Steding’s mind. Curated by Executive Director Jane Friedman, the show is full of imagery that may be self explanatory, but it also may take awhile to absorb.
“Walter Steding’s art often speaks to and cross examines our relationship to society while imbued with an inherent musical spirituality,” opines Howl! Arts Archivist Aldo Hernandez.
“We can glean much from his playful pop culture and historical knowledge,” Hernandez adds. “He mixes mysticism with up-to-date political insight.”
Steding, a self-taught artist and musician who started painting when he was five years old but didn’t begin his violin playing until he was 15, laments that he should have started playing 11 years earlier. Nevertheless, his first trip to NYC from his native Pittsburgh in 1975 found him providing music for a Yoko Ono installation at an avant-garde festival.
When he returned for the next iteration of the fest, he decided that he wasn’t going back home. Finding work as a colorist at a textile company, he also began a career in the art/music world with a performance — “I stood and screamed and then electrocuted myself” — that led to Chris Stein of Blondie producing his first…
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