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Hugh Steers

The Nullities of Life

June 6–July 20, 2018

Hugh Steers: The Nullities of LifeInstallation viewAlexander Gray Associates (2018)

Hugh Steers: The Nullities of Life
Installation view
Alexander Gray Associates (2018)

Hugh Steers: The Nullities of LifeInstallation viewAlexander Gray Associates (2018)

Hugh Steers: The Nullities of Life
Installation view
Alexander Gray Associates (2018)

Hugh Steers: The Nullities of Life

Hugh Steers: The Nullities of Life
Installation view
Alexander Gray Associates (2018)

Hugh Steers: The Nullities of LifeInstallation viewAlexander Gray Associates (2018)

Hugh Steers: The Nullities of Life
Installation view
Alexander Gray Associates (2018)

Hugh Steers: The Nullities of LifeInstallation viewAlexander Gray Associates (2018)

Hugh Steers: The Nullities of Life
Installation view
Alexander Gray Associates (2018)

Hugh Steers: The Nullities of LifeInstallation viewAlexander Gray Associates (2018)

Hugh Steers: The Nullities of Life
Installation view
Alexander Gray Associates (2018)

Hugh Steers: The Nullities of LifeInstallation viewAlexander Gray Associates (2018)

Hugh Steers: The Nullities of Life
Installation view
Alexander Gray Associates (2018)

Hugh Steers: The Nullities of LifeInstallation viewAlexander Gray Associates (2018)

Hugh Steers: The Nullities of Life
Installation view
Alexander Gray Associates (2018)

Hugh Steers: The Nullities of LifeInstallation viewAlexander Gray Associates (2018)

Hugh Steers: The Nullities of Life
Installation view
Alexander Gray Associates (2018)

Black Tank, 1988, Oil on canvas

Black Tank, 1988

Oil on canvas

40h x 46w in (101.60h x 116.84w cm)

Grapes at Night, 1993, Oil on gessoed paper

Grapes at Night, 1993

Oil on gessoed paper

13.06h x 11.19w in (33.18h x 28.42w cm)

Black Leather Jacket & White T-Shirt, 1989, Oil on gessoed paper

Black Leather Jacket & White T-Shirt, 1989

Oil on gessoed paper

11.06h x 14.90w in (28.10h x 37.85w cm)

Saucepan, 1988, Oil on gessoed paper

Saucepan, 1988

Oil on gessoed paper

11.19h x 15w in (28.42h x 38.10w cm)

Robe Help, 1988, Oil on gessoed paper

Robe Help, 1988

Oil on gessoed paper

15.06h x 11.06w in (38.26h x 28.10w cm)

Mouse and Bowl II, 1988, Oil on gessoed paper

Mouse and Bowl II, 1988

Oil on gessoed paper

13.06h x 11.13w in (33.18h x 28.26w cm)

High Tops, 1994, Oil on canvas

High Tops, 1994

Oil on canvas

51.13h x 39.25w in (129.86h x 99.70w cm)

Yellow Rug, 1992, Oil on canvas

Yellow Rug, 1992

Oil on canvas

50.25h x 45.63w in (127.64h x 115.89w cm)

Mr. Coffee, 1993, Oil on canvas

Mr. Coffee, 1993

Oil on canvas

48.13h x 34.25w in (122.24h x 87w cm)

Poster, 1990, Oil on canvas

Poster, 1990

Oil on canvas

42.13h x 51w x 2.25d in (107h x 129.54w x 5.72d cm)

Pockets, 1993, Oil on canvas

Pockets, 1993

Oil on canvas

60h x 54.25w in (152.40h x 137.80w cm)

Grey Mattress, 1988, Oil on canvas

Grey Mattress, 1988

Oil on canvas

64.50h x 67.75w x 2.25d in (163.83h x 172.09w x 5.72d cm)

Phones: Tribute to El Greco, 1988, Oil on canvas in two parts

Phones: Tribute to El Greco, 1988

Oil on canvas in two parts

51.50h x 81.38w x 2.25d in (130.81h x 206.69w x 5.72d cm)

Press Release

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 images 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. Featuring a selection of paintings and works on paper, the show highlights Steers’ interest in capturing what he once described as “my ‘nullities of life,’” seemingly insignificant moments rendered extraordinary through luminous color and light and evocative forms.

Steers first came across this phrase in a 1990 review of a biography of Vincent van Gogh in The New York Times Book Review. Enclosing the article in a letter to a friend, he wrote that the description was “a complete articulation of what I at least think I’m trying to do.” His cooption of the term to describe his own paintings reveals the impact of figures like van Gogh—as well as Pierre Bonnard, El Greco, and Edward Hopper—on his practice. The direct influence of these artists is made explicit in works like Phones: Tribute to El Greco (1988), which depicts two male nudes in sumptuously rendered interiors whose bodies and surroundings evoke those of the Baroque painter.

Reveling in dazzling color, rich fabrics, and the quiet domesticity of daily life, Steers’ art communicates joy even in the face of despair, recalling his assertion that his work deals in “gorgeous bleakness.” At the same time, by painting everyday moments that are imbued with a disconcerting charge, his scenes invite ambiguous narratives of mortality, defiance, and compassion. These themes are omnipresent in Mr. Coffee (1993), which portrays a seated man loosely embracing a standing figure in a sparse kitchen. For Steers, such subject matter 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 mundane moments and prosaic spaces into tableaus suffused with longing, loneliness, fear, and eroticism, Steers’ paintings inhabit a melancholy architecture of intense emotion. As he wrote, “I think I’m in the tradition of a certain kind of American artist … Edward Hopper, Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline … They found beauty in the most brutal forms. I think that’s what characterizes America … that soft glow of brutality.” Capturing the “soft glow of brutality,” 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.