I Did it Steinway 1998

Mark Kostabi made "I Did it Steinway" with flat planes of color. I imagine him, in his studio, carefully masking off each section, airbrushing the colors—red, white, blue, black—one by one. The figure, hunched over the piano, is rendered in this stark, airbrushed style, and the color scheme creates a feeling of unease and isolation. What’s up with the shackles? And the title! It makes you wonder what Kostabi was thinking about when he made this. Was it a sardonic take on artistic struggle? The chains stand in sharp contrast to the smooth surfaces. It’s like Kostabi’s saying something about the constraints of creativity, or the music business. It reminds me of other artists who use the figure to express interior states. Think of Philip Guston, but with a colder, more detached vibe. Artists are always riffing off each other, right? It’s a constant conversation across time. We try things, fail, and find something new along the way.