Kate Steciw: Shape of Things

Kate Steciw‘s work investigates the shifting relationship between objects in the physical reality of everyday living and their two-dimensional representations on the Internet. Desire is at the core of this connection, playing out in the networks of commerce that are essential to the artist’s practice. Intensely hued stock photography and scads of inexpensive Internet purchases are transformed into sleek, voluptuous wall-hung assemblages that attest to the manic saturation of online consumer society.

“I am 37 years old. I was born on the cusp of Taurus and Gemini which would suggest that I am both stubborn and flakey. I am not a good photographer and I am not that good at Photoshop (though I have claimed both as professions). I can’t paint. I can’t draw. I am sloppy and impatient, I choke. I have a problem with “follow-through”. I break things. I lose things. I forget things. I take things personally. I take things too far. I don’t back up my files. I don’t read directions and I’m not good at taking direction. I no longer own a decent camera but I do take pictures almost every day. I save them for years and years. I take other people’s pictures and save them too. I love good stock photography. I worked as a retoucher for many years and saw a lot of it. I know enough about photoshop to do what I need to and that is all that matters. I want to work every day and this is the only way I know how. Some images in these works are mine, some are not. Some were taken recently, some I’ve had for years and more still, I’ve bought or borrowed somewhere along the line. I don’t print or cut the images myself but I wish I did. I do glue them and string them together by hand; it’s crafty and I enjoy this. These works are the product of endless frustrations and they represent the closest I’ve ever come to bridging the gap between life and art.”