Hugh Steers is celebrated for his allegorical paintings, specifically of male couples. His work captures the fraught political tenor of New York in the late 1980s and early 1990s as well as the impact of queer identity and the AIDS crisis. Together, the paintings and oil sketches on view are emblematic of the topics he most often addressed, including illness, isolation, companionship and sexuality.
Steers maintained a commitment to figuration throughout his career, cut dramatically short by AIDS at the age of 32. His painterly finesse was well-grounded in the history of Western art, and he once described his work as ‘allegorical realism’ created ‘to draw the viewer in through the lure of a comfortingly recognizable style and then confront him with a subject matter of a challenging nature.’ His scenes depict male figures in gritty, urban spaces with compositions distinguished by a dramatic and colorful palette, skewed perspective, and a masterful handling of light. Drawing on community experience and his own imagination to create a dream-like allegory underscored by figurative realism, Steers brought needed public attention to the urgency of the AIDS epidemic as well as the private expression of his own queer identity.
