What really makes a strong impression in artistic creation of Steve Lareau is his utter honesty, openness and a very explicit demonstration of technique which the painter uses. Lareau uses new techniques in his creative work. 

He predominantly uses the techniques connected to computers and does not hide that fact. Thanks to this fact, I have recently participated in a number of disputes with artists and art critics who do not support such attitude towards art. Their argument is “ a computer is a computer and art is something completely different ”

I personally think that the above mentioned is not deniable, but if we keep this attitude, brushes, pencils, paper, paints and canvasses are also trivial material things, aren’t they? To an excellent artist, every “trivial thing” can be a perfect instrument for realization of creative ideas, whatever we are talking about- a computer, a brush, paints, paper, canvasses….

The scope of interests of this artist is very wide, starting from almost strictly defined shape of an ornament to abstractions in the widest sense of the word.

Of course, the ornament is also painted in an abstract manner. Therefore, I would say that Steve Lareau is an artist who reactualizes abstractions in postmodern art of painting very powerfully.

This statement is correct, but it should be added a specific touch of this artist, a kind of personal credo: in this case, we are talking about post-modern lyrical abstraction.

Furthermore, when we say that we are talking about an abstraction, i.e. lyrical abstraction, that does not mean that the work of this artist is devoid of shape and form in general. On the contrary, although from the lyrical haze, the shapes are powerfully present, but not on semantical plane.

I would even say that Lareau consciously avoids semantical plane leaving it to the spectator. Thus, everybody gets the right to interpret the work of art his way and to re-create it. This is, no wonder, very close to conceptualism of so called avant-garde art of 20th century.

This avant-garde level is often unnoticed by the spectator and critics because the artist focuses on the lyrical structure of his work. Avant-garde level is additionally hidden by the extraordinary emotional charge of the piece of art, lack of irony and any sarcasm or maliciousness (which were often noticeable marks of avantgarde).

It is clearly noticeable that Steve Lareau is an artist of post-modern orientation, which testifies about up-to-dateness of his work and about freshness which it brings into contemporary art of painting expression.

What is far more important, at least to me, is the fact that this artist is walking down a lonely road, the road which does not have signposts, for which you need great courage and powerful inspiration, which is confirmed by the strength of his work.

© Nikola Kitanovic, 2002