Hugh Steers

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

The Gallery's press release follows:

GRIMM is pleased to present a group exhibition curated by Russell Tovey, opening at the gallery’s London location on 4 March, 2023. The exhibition brings together a selection of works by Ellen Altfest (b. 1970, US), Jean Claracq (b. 1991, FR), Lenz Geerk (b. 1988, CH), Nathanaëlle Herbelin (b. 1989, IL), Ulala Imai (b. 1982, JP), Fiza Khatri (b. 1992, PK), Xie Lei (b. 1983, CN), Aubrey Levinthal (b. 1986, US), Jean Nipon (b. 1977, FR), Paula Siebra (b. 1998, BR), Hugh Steers (1962–1995, US), Alexandria Tarver (b. 1989, US) and Salman Toor (b. 1983, PK) - a selection of artists whose work honours the rituals of daily life within the home, revelling in the overlooked beauty within the seemingly mundane. 

A catalogue will be published on the occasion of this exhibition. 

Reflecting on the exhibition, Tovey has shared his own passage of prose that muses on his own experience of this quiet celebration of domestic joy: 

I used to fall fast asleep as my mother vacuumed our home around me, a metronome of electricity, the dishwasher cycle, tumble dryer, low level melodic droning, a buzz, constant, peripheral, comforting. Satsumas, apples, something more exotic, seasonal, a fig, pomegranate, shrinking into themselves, vibrant tones shifting, as a captive audience reaches for more palatable, gratifying snacks. To be expected, they remain overlooked, decaying, quiet, calm, beautiful. 

We pass on the stairs, swap rooms, the roar of an empty bath, hot water swelling echoes from behind a bathroom door, dull, predictable, safe. Your instinctual shift from the cooker, the sink, an adjustment allowing access to the cutlery drawer, pairing our metalware, glass, the thump of heavy chopping board cradling plump tomatoes, they bleed into the grain. Fresh folded towels, beds made, dry dust moved, side boards, tv stands, lamps and window sills, the afternoon sun tickled by a breeze.