Galleria Franco Noero is pleased to present ʻBad Runʼ, Steven Shearerʼs third exhibition project in Turin.

The artist, who has represented Canada at the 54th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia, presents ʻBad Runʼ, a unique wall installation composed by a new series of works in which the tradition of portraiture meets the youth musical subculture.

Main character of the eight images that compose ʻBad Runʼ is in fact Leif Garrett, the teenage idol of a whole generation in the 70ʼs, portrayed in a series of photographic shots coming from different sources and belonging to a wide archive built throughout the years by the artist, through exchanges with fans, web searches and collecting fanzines paper clippings. Leif Garrettʼs portraits constitute a kaleidoscope of attitudes and expressions that suggest a narrative made of assembled fragments, unfolding in a sequence of images which are like flashbacks, each different in colour and size. A very sophisticated technique allows printing ink on rag paper that gets coloured by acrylic paint, lacquered and then mounted and framed: this way the artist manages to retain and amplify the qualities and the ʻgrainʼ of the original images, letting the black of the ink get to an almost tactile softness and brightness.

At the same time the monochromatic backgrounds of the eight images hint at that kind of painting that plays with the juxtaposition of solid colour fields, while keeping on suggesting that melancholic obsession of the young fans looking at the images of their idol reproduced on posters.

Steven Shearer (New Westminster BC, Canada 1968) lives and works in Vancouver. His work has been exhibited widely in solo shows in international Institutions, among which: Canadian Pavilion, 54th Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy (2011); ‘Double Album: Steven Shearer & Daniel Guzman’, New Museum, New York and MUCA University Museum of Arts and Sciences, Mexico (2008); Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, UK; The Power Plant, Toronto, Canada; De Appel Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2007); CAG Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada (2004).