Pat Steir, Famed for Her Abstract ‘Waterfall’ Paintings, Dies at 87
Artist Pat Steir, known for large-scale abstract “Waterfall” paintings made by pouring paint down upright canvases from a ladder or cherry picker, died in Manhattan of natural causes at age 87. Her death was confirmed by her husband Joost Elffers, her niece Lily Sukoneck-Cohen, and Marc Payot, president of Hauser & Wirth, which had represented her since 2022. Steir developed the “Waterfalls” process in the late 1980s and described it as “chance within limitations,” discussing her approach in ARTnews (2012) and in later interviews, including a 2017 explanation of optical color mixing and a 2008 Smithsonian Archives of American Art oral history about “anti-modernism.” Born Iris Patricia Sukoneck in 1938 in Newark, New Jersey, she worked across painting, writing, performance, and mentoring over a decades-long career.
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This story was covered in Venice Defiance, Monuments Return, A.I. Retreat