2007 Press Release by Agora Gallery,
New York, NY
Vigorous color and bold edgy lines generate intensity in the contemporary paintings
of international artist Steven Krueger. Born in New Jersey, he has traveled and lived worldwide, first
while serving in the U.S. Navy and currently in the Foreign Service. Global travel and constant change influence his
painting more than his culture of origin. His painting style developed the most in the colorful, vibrant culture of
Guatemala, with its constant backdrop of fear and violence. Spontaneity characterizes Krueger's process as well
as his paintings. He rarely plans the outcome of a piece, but uses paint and other materials with reckless abandon,
and surrenders to emotion. With roots in cubism and abstract expressionism, his restless paintings convey spectrums
of feeling. Says Krueger: "My creations are made with emotion, so if people react then I am content".
Presently living and working in India his paintings hang in private collections throughout the world from Europe, Asia,
and Africa to Latin America and the United States.
2008 Press Release by Agora Gallery, New York,
NY
Upon hinges of raw emotion
is where Steven Krueger hangs his creative spirit. With
aggressive strokes of paint and intense stylization of figures, Krueger’s mixed media works are an all out assault upon
the senses. Words, bright patterns and superfluous drips exist within an unruly picture plane. His characteristic motifs exude
strong expressionist sensibilities, reflecting times of confusion or despair and yet wonder and emotional innocence also appear
as underlying currents. “To me,” Krueger explains, “art is the skill to be able to document one's emotions.”
The paintings are created with spontaneity as well as chance; layer upon layer of paint, pencil, oil pastel or emulsion is
applied, sometimes covering over previous ones until the image is finally complete. The results are expressive, raw and magnificent
to behold and have been exhibited to audiences around the globe.
World travel has only increased Krueger’s
fervor for the arts. As an American who has experienced the diverse cultures of the world firsthand, he has lived in Austria,
Guatemala, Finland and currently India.
2009 Gallery & Studio Article by Maurice Taplinger
2009 Ico Gallery Commentary by Andrew Beckerman
2010 Press Release Icosahedron Gallery
Icosahedron Gallery is pleased to present “The Waiting Place,” a new exhibition of paintings by the New Jersey-born and
Argentina-based artist Steven Krueger. Having spent the last three decades traveling and living abroad, Krueger’s art
is multicultural in scope, representing a polyphonic chorus of international sensibilities that have become manifest across
his work in a variety of mediums.
Largely self-taught, he briefly
studied painting at the ICS School of ART in Pennsylvania and the Art League of Alexandria Virginia. Krueger’s interest
in painting piqued during visits to Austrian museums while living in Vienna in 1997, and he found himself drawn to masterpieces
where traces of the artist’s painting process remained visible. He began painting a year later and has continued to
produce works at a prolific pace throughout subsequent moves to Guatemala, Finland, Washington D.C., India, and Argentina.
In his catalogue essay on the artist, critic Andrew Beckman places
Krueger’s art within an aesthetic space influenced by “peripatetic globalism.” His works are not preconceived
mandates of a single expression; but rather, passionate debates that pivot around the universal qualities of human existence.
Rife with allusions to Abstract Expressionism, Art Brut, Cubism, and
Fauvism, his paintings neither quote nor overturn previous styles but rather funnel their energies into his own translation
of human sentiments. Krueger views art as “the skill to be able to document one's emotions” and emphasizes
his desire to elicit an emotional response from viewers. The cycle of artistic creation cannot be completed until spectators
have internalized and grappled with the personal testimony layered throughout his work.
Steven Krueger’s works will be on display at Icosahedron Gallery and the Tribeca Hilton Garden Inn throughout the month of July. For
exhibition dates and show details please visit our website at www.icosahedrongallery.com
or email info@icosahedrongallery.org.
