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Hugh Steers

,

Hugh Steers

  • Biography
  • Select Works
  • Exhibitions
  • Other Exhibitions
  • Public Collections
  • News / Events
  • Articles / Reviews
  • Biography
    Hugh Steers in his studio at Yale, c.1985
    Hugh Steers in his studio at Yale, c.1985

    Hugh Steers (1962–1995) was born in Washington, D.C., and trained in painting at Yale University, New Haven, CT and Parsons School of Art and Design, New York, NY. Before his death at 32 from AIDS-related complications, Steers created allegorical images of everyday life that captured the emotional and political tenor of New York in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Embracing representational painting and figuration at a time when such approaches were deemed unfashionable, his intimate compositions are poignant symbols of life under the specter of AIDS.

    Download Artist's CV (PDF, opens in a new tab.)

    Deeply influenced by art history, Steers mined the Western canon for inspiration to create intimate, surreal, and compelling paintings filled with elements that paid homage to disparate artists, including El Greco, Édouard Vuillard, Edward Hopper, and Paul Cadmus. In an interview shortly before his death, the artist expanded on his approach, musing: “I think I'm in the tradition of a certain kind of American artist—artists whose work embodies a certain gorgeous bleakness. Edward Hopper, Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline—they all had this austere beauty to them. They found beauty in the most brutal forms. I think that's what characterizes America, the atmosphere, its culture, its cities and landscape. They all have that soft glow of brutality.”

    Dedicated to capturing the “soft glow of brutality,” Steers’s compositions communicate joy even in the face of despair. At the same time, by painting mundane moments imbued with a disconcerting charge, his paintings invite ambiguous narratives of mortality, defiance, and compassion. For Steers, such narratives reflected his own desires. As he explained, “I would like to be able to act or have someone care about me the way some of the people in my paintings act or care about each other. It’s as if painting it will make it become real.” 

    Transforming prosaic scenes and spaces into tableaux suffused with longing, loneliness, fear, and eroticism, Steers’s work inhabits a melancholy architecture of intense emotion. His images—sensuous and unsettling—gain new resonance in a contemporary art landscape informed by a return to figuration and a critical reappraisal of art from the 1980s and early 1990s.

    Steers’s paintings have been featured in Every Moment Counts—AIDS and its Feelings at Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Høvikodden, Norway (2022), Any distance between us at RISD Museum, Providence, RI (2021), AIDS at Home: Art and Everyday Activism at the Museum of the City of New York, NY (2017), and Art AIDS America, curated by Jonathan Katz and Rock Hushka, at the Tacoma Art Museum, WA (2015); West Hollywood Library and One Archives Gallery and Museum, Los Angeles, CA (2015); Zuckerman Museum of Art, Kennesaw, GA (2016); The Bronx Museum of the Arts, NY (2016); and Alphawood Foundation, Chicago, IL (2016). His work has also been exhibited at ANOTHER SPACE, New York, NY (2023); David Zwirner, Paris, France (2021); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (2013); New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY (1994); Richard Anderson, New York, NY (1992); Midtown Galleries, New York, NY (1992); Denver Art Museum, CO (1991); Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo, NY (1988); and The Drawing Center, New York, NY (1987), among others. Steers’s work is in private and public art collections, including the Denver Art Museum, CO; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; Minneapolis Institute of Art, MN; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; Walker Art Center, Minnesota, MN; and Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT; among others. In 1989, Steers received a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Fellowship. A comprehensive monographic catalogue of Steers’s work was published by Visual AIDS in 2015.

  • Select Works

    Man and IV, 1994 Oil on canvas 65 x 47 in (165.1 x 119.38 cm) Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art (View more details about this item in a popup).
    Blue Uniform, 1991 Oil on canvas 66 x 72 in (167.64 x 182.88 cm) Collection of The Minneapolis Institute of Art (View more details about this item in a popup).
    Bath Curtain, 1992 Oil on canvas 64 1/2 x 72 1/2 in (163.8 x 184.2 cm) Collection of the Rennie Museum (View more details about this item in a popup).
    Yellow Washcloth, 1992  Oil on canvas  54 x 62 in (137.16 x 157.48 cm) Collection of the Yale University Art Gallery (View more details about this item in a popup).
    Smoker's Dilemma, 1990  Oil on gessoed paper  13 2/8 x 10 6/8 in (33.78 x 27.43 cm) Collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art (View more details about this item in a popup).
    Purple Drape, 1988  Oil on gessoed paper  10 2/8 x 11 2/8 in (26.16 x 28.7 cm) Collection of the Yale University Art Gallery (View more details about this item in a popup).
    Tied at the Wrist, 1988  Oil on gessoed paper  14 7/8 x 12 in (37.8 x 30.48 cm) Collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art (View more details about this item in a popup).
    Flag, 1990  Oil on canvas  52 2/8 x 60 in (132.72 x 152.4 cm) Collection of the Denver Art Museum (View more details about this item in a popup).
    Title unknown, c. 1988  Oil on gessoed paper  24 3/4 x 22 1/4 in (62.9 x 56.5 cm) Collection of the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art (View more details about this item in a popup).

    Man and IV, 1994
    Oil on canvas
    65 x 47 in (165.1 x 119.38 cm)
    Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

  • Exhibitions
    • Hugh Steers

      Hugh Steers

      Conjuring Tenderness: Paintings from 1987 June 20 - August 9, 2024 New York
      Alexander Gray Associates, New York presents Conjuring Tenderness: Paintings from 1987 , an exhibition of paintings and works on paper by Hugh Steers (1962–1995). The exhibition takes its title from...
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    • Between Us

      Between Us

      September 1 - October 15, 2023 Germantown
      Alexander Gray Associates, Germantown presents Between Us , an exhibition gathering works by an intergenerational group of queer artists advancing the practice of portraiture. Confronting the cyclical progress and backlash...
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    • Hugh Steers

      Hugh Steers

      Strange State of Being February 18 - April 3, 2021 New York
      Alexander Gray Associates, New York presents Strange State of Being , an exhibition of paintings and works on paper by Hugh Steers (1962–1995). A figurative painter, the artist was diagnosed...
      Read more
    • Hugh Steers

      Hugh Steers

      Boxes August 30 - September 22, 2019 Germantown
      Alder & Co., 222 Main Street, Germantown NY 12526 Hours: Friday – Sunday 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM Diagnosed in 1987 with HIV, Hugh Steers’ subject matter speaks to his...
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    • Hugh Steers

      Hugh Steers

      The Nullities of Life June 6 - July 20, 2018 New York
      Alexander Gray Associates presented its third exhibition of work by Hugh Steers (b.1962—d.1995), The Nullities of Life . Before his death at 32 from AIDS related complications, Steers created allegorical...
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    • Hugh Steers

      Hugh Steers

      Day Light January 8 - February 14, 2015 New York
      Alexander Gray Associates presented an exhibition of work by Hugh Steers (b.1962, Washington, DC – 1995, New York), including paintings and works on paper produced between 1990 and 1992 that...
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    • Hugh Steers

      Hugh Steers

      January 12 - February 16, 2013 New York
      Alexander Gray Associates was pleased to present its first solo exhibition of works by Hugh Steers, featuring paintings and works on paper produced from 1987–1993. Throughout his career, cut dramatically...
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    • Cadmus, Steers, Warhol

      Cadmus, Steers, Warhol

      June 8 - July 20, 2012 New York
      Paul Cadmus Hugh Steers Andy Warhol To inaugurate its representation of the Estate of Hugh Steers, Alexander Gray Associates presented an exhibition contextualizing his work with two generational predecessors, reflecting...
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  • Other Exhibitions

    • Full and Pure: Body, Materiality, Gender, Green Family Art Foundation
      Exhibitions

      Full and Pure: Body, Materiality, Gender

      Green Family Art Foundation June 10 - September 24, 2023
      Joan Semmel and Hugh Steers included in the group exhibition Full and Pure: Body, Materiality, Gender at the Green Family Art Foundation, Dallas, TX. The Green Family Art Foundation's press...
    • Macho: Representing Masculinity, ANOTHER SPACE
      Exhibitions

      Macho: Representing Masculinity

      ANOTHER SPACE November 17, 2022 - April 1, 2023
      Hugh Steers included in the group exhbibiton Macho: Representing Masculinity at ANOTHER SPACE in New York. ANOTHER SPACE's press release follows: ANOTHER SPACE is pleased to announce Macho: Representing Masculinity...
    • Every Moment Counts – AIDS and its Feelings, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Høvikodden, Norway
      Exhibitions

      Every Moment Counts – AIDS and its Feelings

      Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Høvikodden, Norway February 17 - May 22, 2022
      Hugh Steers group exhibiton Every Moment Counts – AIDS and its Feelings , at the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter in Høvikodden, Norway. The institution's press release follows: Every Moment Counts—AIDS and...
    • More Life: Hugh Steers: Blue Towel, Red Tank, David Zwirner Gallery, Paris, France
      Exhibitions

      More Life: Hugh Steers: Blue Towel, Red Tank

      David Zwirner Gallery, Paris, France December 4, 2021 - January 29, 2022
      Hugh Steers's one person exhibition More Life: Hugh Steers: Blue Towel, Red Tank , curated by Russell Tovey as part of the More Life series, is presented at David Zwirner...
    • Any distance between us, RISD Museum
      Exhibitions

      Any distance between us

      RISD Museum July 17, 2021 - March 13, 2022
      Hugh Steers included in the group exhibition Any distance between us at the RISD Museum, Providence, RI. The institution's press release follows: This exhibition explores the power and significance of...
  • Public Collections
    Hugh Steers
    Man and IV, 1994
    Oil on canvas
    Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

    Denver Art Museum, CO
    Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

    The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
    Minneapolis Institute of Art, MN
    The New School, New York, NY
    Racine Art Museum, WI
    Rennie Collection, Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
    Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
    Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT

  • News / Events
    • Kang Seung Lee, Carrie Moyer, and Hugh Steers

      Kang Seung Lee, Carrie Moyer, and Hugh Steers

      a field at bloom and hum at The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College February 14–July 20, 2025
      Carrie Moyer, Kang Seung Lee, and Hugh Steers are included in the group exhibition a field at bloom and hum at The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, New York, on view from February 14–July 20, 2025.
      Read more
    • Hugh Steers

      Hugh Steers

      Close at GRIMM March 4–April 6, 2023

      Hugh Steers is included in the group exhibition Close curated by Russel Tovey at GRIMM Gallery in London, United Kingdom.

      Read more
    • Hugh Steers

      Hugh Steers

      Macho: Representing Masculinity at ANOTHER SPACE November 17, 2022–April 15, 2023

      Hugh Steers included in the group exhbibiton Macho: Representing Masculinity at ANOTHER SPACE in New York.

      Read more
    • Hugh Steers

      Hugh Steers

      Every Moment Counts – AIDS and its Feelings at Henie Onstad Kunstsenter February 18–May 22, 2022

      Hugh Steers included in Every Moment Counts – AIDS and its Feelings, a group exhibition at the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter in Høvikodden, Norway.

      Read more
    • Hugh Steers

      Hugh Steers

      We Are Family at New York Academy of Art February 1–March 6, 2022

      Hugh Steers included in We Are Family, a group exhibition at the New York Academy of Art, NY.

      Read more
    • Hugh Steers: Blue Towel, Red Tank

      Hugh Steers: Blue Towel, Red Tank

      David Zwirner Gallery, Paris, France December 4, 2021–January 29, 2022

      Hugh Steers's one person exhibition More Life: Hugh Steers: Blue Towel, Red Tank, curated by Russell Tovey as part of the More Life series, presented at David Zwirner Paris.

       

      Read more
  • Articles / Reviews
    • Hugh Steers, “Striped Shirt and Cap” (1987) (photo Natalie Haddad/Hyperallergic)

      Top 50 Exhibitions Around the World in 2024

      Hyperallergic
      December 20, 2024 Art can thrive in the most unfathomable times; 2024 was a year filled with global conflict but it was also...
    • Hugh Steers, "Dropping In," 1987, oil on canvas, 56 × 72".

      Hugh Steers, Alexander Gray Associates

      Artforum
      October 1, 2024 Tears well at the mere thought of Hugh Steers’s paintings. He is among a mere handful of figurative artists who...
    • Installation view: Hugh Steers: Conjuring Tenderness : Paintings from 1987 Alexander Gray Associates, New York, 2024.

      The Best New York Exhibitions this July at MoMA, Gladstone Gallery, and More

      Whitewall
      July 10, 2024 With endless talent spread around the city, here are some of our New York City exhibition favorites for summer 2024,...
    • Hugh Steers, "Dropping In," 1987. Oil on canvas, 56 x 72 in (142.24 x 182.88 cm)

      Hugh Steers’ Paintings Captured Bleakness and Hope

      Art and Object
      July 8, 2024 Conjuring Tenderness: Paintings from 1987 , an exhibition of paintings and works on paper by Hugh Steers (1962–1995), recently opened...
    • The Approval Matrix: Everyone's a Pundit

      New York Magazine
      June 28, 2024 Highbrow, Brilliant: Hugh Steers at Alexander Gray. ... View full graphic at nymag.com .
    • Hugh Steers, “Striped Shirt and Cap” (1987)

      Five Highlights From Detroit’s Queer Art Biennial

      Hyperallergic
      June 23, 2024 DETROIT — The Mighty Real/Queer Detroit biennial isn’t notable just because of its dedication to LGBTQ+ representation — though that...
    • "Bath Curtain," 1992 (detail), Oil on canvas

      Power, space and fantasy: what to look out for at Art Basel 2023

      Wallpaper*
      June 12, 2023 Nature, ecology, queer perspectives and quantum physics intertwine in a web of fantastical references at Art Basel 2023 (15 –...
    • "Mouse & Apple," 1988, Oil on board

      5 Late LGBTQ+ Artists Finally Getting Their Due

      Artsy
      June 9, 2023 LGBTQ+ artists have long been excluded from popular narratives and public recognition both in art history and the art market....
    • "High-Heeled Embrace," 1989 (detail), Oil on canvas

      Explore 120 years of exceptional art in Art Basel’s Online Viewing Rooms

      Art Basel
      June 5, 2023 Artworks are invaluable markers of history, coded with the events, social dynamics, and cultural shifts of their era. In Art...
    • “Yellow Pillow”, oil on canvas, 1988. © 2021 Estate of Hugh Steers

      Hugh Steers, the painter who looked AIDS in the face

      Télérama
      December 19, 2021 Hugh Steers loved to paint cats, high heels and bathtubs. The latter illuminate, with their whiteness, many of his paintings,...
    • Silence=Death Project, "Silence = Death," 1987. Courtesy the artists

      David Zwirner Plans Exhibition Series to Mark AIDS Pandemic’s Beginning

      ARTnews
      May 11, 2021 To mark 40th anniversary of the beginning of the AIDS pandemic, when the CDC published the first scientific acknowledgement of...
    • Hugh Steers' “Crow” (1988) in the show “Strange State of Being.”

      4 Art Gallery Shows to See Right Now

      The New York Times
      March 24, 2021 Hugh Steers Through April 3. Alexander Gray Associates, 510 West 26th Street, Manhattan, (212) 399-2636, alexandergray.com . When the artist...
    • Hugh Steers' “Crow” (1988) in the show “Strange State of Being.”

      Hugh Steers

      The New Yorker
      March 17, 2021 “Strange State of Being,” the title of Steers’s current show at Alexander Gray Associates, is how the painter described his...
    • Hugh Steers, "Hospital Bed" (1993), oil on canvas, 61 2/8 x 65 1/8 inches

      Hugh Steers Melds Queerness and the Devotional

      Hyperallergic
      March 16, 2021 Spanning 1987–1993, Strange State of Being illustrates that illness by no means negates intimacy. The exhibition, now on view at...
    • Other artworks in the exhibition: from left, an untitled work from 2020 by John Dowd; “Blue Self-Portrait” by Tabboo! (1982); and Hugh Steers’s “Kneeling and Standing” (1987). Credit...Tony Luong for The New York Times

      Can a New Arts Center Revitalize Provincetown?

      The New York Times
      July 2, 2020 PROVINCETOWN, Mass. — There was only one destination of choice for the literary set looking to leave New York City...
    • Hugh Steers, "High Tops," 1994. Oil on canvas, 51.13h x 39.25w in. Courtesy Alexander Gray Associates, New York © Estate of Hugh Steers

      Frieze LA Makes Its Long-Awaited Debut

      Cultured Magazine
      February 15, 2019 The minute the VIP session of the first-ever edition of Frieze Los Angeles opened this morning at Paramount Pictures Studios,...
    • Hugh Auchincloss Steers in his studio

      A Certain Gorgeous Bleakness

      Gay and Lesbian Review
      May 4, 2018 MAKING ART is difficult. Doing it when you’re struggling with an illness you know is going to kill you is...
    • Hugh Steers, "Morning Terrace," 1992, oil on canvas, 72 × 54″.

      Hugh Steers, Alexander Gray Associates

      Artforum
      April 5, 2015 New York City’s cramped tenement apartments were the standard setting for painter Hugh Steers (1962–1995). Within these intimate environs, Steers...
    • Hunger of Memory, by Guy Trebay

      The Village Voice
      February 14, 2006 This story was originally published December 5, 1995. I saw Hugh Steers yesterday on lower Broadway, caught sight of him...
    • Art in Review

      The New York Times
      November 4, 1994 Hugh Steers' earlier paintings had two very different types of images: male couples tenderly helping each other dress or bathe,...
    • Hugh Steers

      Artforum
      November 5, 1992 In his most recent paintings and smaller oil sketches, Hugh Steers chronicles contemporary urban life haunted by the presence of...

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