“[I want] [s]omething that announces itself not as a mimic of a person but as a person made out of paint.”
Illuminated with vivid, psychedelic color and elaborate patterning, The Late Dioramist and Sons marks a pivotal iconographic shift in Steven Shearer’s practice, extending the artist’s idiosyncratic aura of self-reflection and a punk sensibility to the depiction of artists in their studios. Executed in 2020 and exhibited in the artist’s solo show at Galerie Eva Presenhuber in 2021, The Late Dioramist and Sons overwhelms with impressive latitude and exquisite detail. Drawn from the artist’s extensive archive of found imagery sourced from decades of popular media, the work’s complex narrative negotiating figure and space allures and mystifies. In June 2023, a solo presentation of Shearer’s work will go on view at The George Economou Collection in Athens with a coinciding major monograph published on the artist’s work. Delightfully uncanny, The Late Dioramist and Sons is a striking example of Shearer’s radical oeuvre, complete with vibrant hues and expressive brushstrokes.
Shearer’s practice began as a compulsive means of solitary experience and evolved into an extravagant, internal world. In addition to thrilling tones and vibrating designs, Shearer’s work is ridden with a palpable, eerie angst evident in the detached, distant impressions of his sitters. The Late Dioramist and Sons unveils a sumptuous space which bewilders and entrances. As the title suggests, the composition includes an ornately clothed model maker, holding a long, draping curtain open to a corner of his art-filled studio. The environment proves slightly unsettling, conjuring Ernst Ludwig Kirchner skin tones, ghoulish children, and dated décor. Ghostly blue and deep magenta paintings fill the walls, indicating an extensive, robust collection. The dioramist’s hand grasps the corner of a painting resting on the floor, a nod to Renaissance and Classical portraiture where a resting hand indicates ownership, establishing the figure as more collector than craftsman. The figures seem to know they are being observed; as the adult figure looks directly outward to the viewer, a small, shy boy grasps the dioramist’s right leg as if attempting to hide from view. Parallel to the boy, a bust-like, humanoid puppet sits in a deep architectural enclave, a quirky emblem of the dioramist’s creation which further renders an enigmatic scene. The dioramist’s collection recalls the work of Expressionists and Futurists, such as Giacomo Balla, revealing Shearer’s affinity for self-reflection and stylistic inspiration. The Late Dioramist and Sons manifests an otherworldly studio visit; as explained by Mitchell Anderson, an “examination of portraiture through the lens of those who construct and consume it.” (Mitchell Anderson, “Steven Shearer,” Artforum, 2021, (online))
The present work almost ironically displays the dioramist with the objects of his affection. Posing as a revered collector, the dioramist simultaneously presents as faintly absurd, dressed like a dandy. Given diorama’s association with low art, the figure’s evident wealth assumedly does not come from a life of diorama-making; he is a collector with a fantasy of creation, yet exhibits a seemingly hopeless gaze, longing for something more. Despite Shearer’s usage of photographic sources, Shearer actively constructs each figure with material manipulation rather than simple duplication. The artist specifically describes his paintings of artists in studio: “[I want] [s]omething that announces itself not as a mimic of a person but as a person made out of paint.” (Meeka Walsh and Robert Enright, “Figures and Faces: The Phrenological Time Machines of Steven Shearer,” Border Crossings, Winnipeg, January 2022, no. 158, p. 29)
“The enigmatic artist brings an almost forensic eye to found images and historical references… as [he] shows us, where there is beauty, there is darkness unbidden.”
The artist’s early paintings of long-haired figures inspired by archival imagery of punk rock musicians indicated his first inclination towards the traditions of Expressionism. Expanding upon such artists as Otto Dix and Edvard Munch, Shearer’s recent work engages with electric color and dynamic, image-heavy compositions centralizing figuration. "I think he's kind of an anomaly in a certain way in that he's making art history — he's quite interested in the Expressionists, the Fauves, and kind of bringing up these painters throughout history and wanting to make homage to them... So they inspire him, as well as contemporary culture, youth culture and the music and what not. It's really a blend between these two things.” (Josée Drouin-Brisebois quoted in: Susan Noakes, “Steven Shearer’s mysterious muse,” Canada Broadcast Corporation (CBC), 31 May 2011, (online)) Shearer’s mastery of mannerism is at its best in The Late Dioramist and Sons. With an exhilarating, introspective investigation into the uncanny, Shearer transforms contemporary portraiture. The present work deftly demonstrates Shearer’s inventive palette and ingenious application of paint in a time-honored tradition of the artist at work. “The enigmatic artist brings an almost forensic eye to found images and historical references… as [he] shows us, where there is beauty, there is darkness unbidden.” (Matt Mullen, “Steven Shearer,” Interview Magazine, November 6, 2016, (online))
