The medium of collage offers the opportunity to build upon the themes of my paintings, to expand my vision with more playful and exploratory images that are intimate in scale.

The tools and materials I use determine the size of the work as the old books, manuscripts, maps, and found paper employed are relatively small in size. My work table is an ordinary desk, and everything else I need; X-acto blades, a glue bottle, small tubes of gouache paint, fits in a shoebox. This portability provides me a sense of freedom in the work and the chance to develop the images in different locations. For example, the collages for this exhibition were created in both Manhattan and on a small island off the coast of Maine.

Precision has always been an important element in my art. I find straight edges and visual order to be liberating devices. I am particular about colors, shapes, and in the case of collage, finding the right material for each image. Ideally the different paper elements both enhance the pictorial space and flatten it, perhaps even providing an alternative narrative.

The precision of the knife blade allows the compositions to be pieced together like a delicate jigsaw puzzle whose picture is revealed only when the last piece is placed in exactly the right spot.
- William Steiger