Steven Shearer

2005

Painting, 86.4 x 66 cm.
Materials: oil, canvas

Collection: Collection M HKA/ Flemish Community (Inv. no. BK7651_M414).

The theme of Shearer’s Drag goes back to his own environment, to a generally autobiographical atmosphere. For this portrait, the front man of a notorious metal band stood as a model, and the artist refers to the subcultures of metal- and hard rock as forms of contemporary folk art. For that matter, the original photograph may be traced back as an unsightly thumbnail, in Puffs (2006), a digital collage that typifies the archival side of Shearer’s practice, and is the result of endless browsing through the visual proliferation of the internet. In his painting technique, Shearer shows himself as an assiduous student of Western art history. In this work, too, there are echoes of Bosh, Dürer, Holbein, Bonnard, Manet, Munch and Toulouse-Lautrec.

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The M HKA is a museum for contemporary art, film and visual culture in its widest sense. It is an open place of encounter for art, artists and the public. The M HKA aspires to play a leading role in Flanders and to extend its international profile by building upon Antwerp's avant-garde tradition. The M HKA bridges the relationship between artistic questions and wider societal issues, between the international and the regional, artists and public, tradition and innovation, reflection and presentation. Central here is the museum's collection with its ongoing acquisitions, as well as related areas of management and research.

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The M HKA Ensembles represent our first steps towards initiating the public to today's art-related digital landscape. With the help of these new media, our aim is to offer our artworks a better and fuller array of support for their presentation and public understanding.