'I lived near a serial killer': Steven Shearer on turning teen angst and death metal into high art

TL;DR

Steven Shearer is a shy and reclusive Canadian artist whose work spans 40 years and multiple media.
His art includes paintings of long-haired teens, collages of appropriated images, and billboard-sized poetry inspired by heavy metal lyrics.
Shearer grew up in Port Coquitlam, near serial killer Robert Pickton, which influenced his early sense of dark forces.
He is drawn to heavy metal imagery and iconography, twisting references to bands and musicians with nods to art history.
His paintings often feature androgynous, tense portraits of lonely youths on the brink of manhood.
Newer works show figures that have aged and withered, reflecting the fear and discomfort of middle age.
Shearer also creates the 'Sleepers' series from internet images of people sleeping and large-scale poems from extreme metal lyrics.
He views his work as a "double cultural archaeology," mining the past and archiving the present.
Shearer aims for his art to be universal, allowing viewers in the future to connect with the figures regardless of specific references.

Continuer la lecture de l'article original