Jaime Steiger is a Brooklyn-based painter who recently moved away from the genre of figuration. Rather than delineate specific, recognizable forms upon canvas or wood, Steiger has acquired a deeper interest in the material substance of paint. The artist’s latest series is titled Portrait of the Self and consists of numerous compositions that render an array of forms while using a limited color palette.

Throughout Portrait of the Self, Steiger takes the viewer on a curious venture while she searches and explores the unseen self. She often begins with a gestural dark line that is either ink or graphite. The edges of these marks slightly trail across the surface while thick waves of gesso intersect and nearly submerge the artist’s initial suggestions.

Hues of white, olive, light blue and soft orange layer together and create a subtle amplification of texture. The overall juxtaposition creates a single resonance rather than a disarming clash. Rather, this colorful interaction is balanced with a select number of unpainted areas, transforming the role of the painted surface into that of a textured pigment. Sometimes the pastel colors seem to dominate while at other times not. For Steiger, every part of a painting carries equal weight since the layers, themselves, tell a story.

Jaime Steiger received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts. She has also exhibited paintings from earlier series at Con Artist Collective located on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and at the Demi-Monde Cafe in Bushwick, Brooklyn.