STEVE MOORS Digital Art / Mixed Media
2019
February 1, 2020
STEVE MOORS Complete book NEW YORK
Copyright © 2020 by Artios Gallery, LLC All rights reserved.
Foreword The world moves with breath-taking speed. This, perhaps, was what the art critics of the 19th century wrote as well, mightily puzzled by the technology that could pu away from central Paris and into the countryside in only three hours or so. No doubt, they felt that modernity was overwhelming. One no longer had to be a science ction writer or better still, a physicist, to see that the world was a strange and complex undertaking, painfully so, as the spectator just wanted to be able to stop for a second and try to understand. To understand what? As soon as a thought anchored to a glimpse of reality, the world has already moved far, far away. Can we even start somewhere and make sense of it? We, whom nature endowed with weak eyes, poor hearing, unspectacular physical strength, all slaves to supposedly extraordinary mental capacity, realize how eeting and inadequate our mind is, faced with the unstoppable step of progress. In response, the art screamed, deconstructed into geometric shapes, lost shape, spit colors, made banal high, and made high very banal. The success of the latter should shock. Long gone are the days when the outraged populace threw rotten tomatoes at the artistic novelties. Now, overawed viewers ow from a museum room to a museum room in a quasi-religious and all-accepting trance. The post-modernist philosophers should have saved their breath: art made their statement for them way before they put it in verbose and overly gesticulated French. There was one idea, though, that did not pretend. Thrown into this world, bombarded by the explosion of information and possibilities, we still have rich experiences despite inadequate innate machinery. Surrealism captured this truth profoundly with Magritte’s train emerging forcefully from a tranquil replace and into an ordinary living room. We do, and we will cope. We welcome modernity into our very private and enclosed world like an honored guest, rather than a harbinger of deconstruction and destruction.
FAVORITE PROJECTS Steve Moors’ work exempli es this e ort. Modern in a uniquely laborious digital technic, his art does not wallow in self-importance but serves a higher contemplative purpose. The characters of Moors’ paintings, and it is apt to call them that, inhabit enclosed spaces where enigmatic imagery takes place, as strange as our experiences and dreams could be. His titles most frequently convey the idea of three pillars of hermeneutical signi cance, some conspicuous, and some understated. The figures are actors in a Moors’ creation, a play with no perceived beginning, and no reasoned end. Still, the portrayal is both figurative and supremely open to investigation and interpretation. The Moors’ paradox is that no matter how incongruent the action may seem, no matter how delphic the imagery can be, the mood of the painting comes out persistent and precise. The messaging of Moors is unambiguous, yet subtle. We live among and with constraints, limits of physical and mental nature. Encapsulating the possibilities of the present moment, however, is not a small task, once one takes time to sketch the limits, define the search, and delve into meditation. The shared richness of this demarcated experience, the atmosphere of which is manifest to the author, may surprise and astonish the viewer. What may be so particular in a chosen set of figurative play to demand our attention? It is the insistence on meaning. Meaning is not just a word for fleeting impressions or a tautology of an argument of logic. It is a statement of significance urging the art to elevate one’s spirit and see the present as a living expression of the past and the future as an open question to the present. By Dmitri Shuster
" Card Players Shed" Fuji gloss chrystal archival paper print
About Steve Steve Moors is a British/American artist based in New York. Over the years he has been involved in the arts in a multitude of disciplines. He has been a creative director, an art director, an art teacher, a photographer, an illustrator, and most recently, an artist. Steve has been showcased and interviewed in several magazines and exhibited in the U.S.A, Israel, and the United Kingdom, including the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. He is now focused entirely on his own self-motivated artwork. Steve creates original hand-rendered large format digital prints. Although working digitally, he uses a simple ‘traditional’ version of an HB pencil. This process involves many, many hours of rendering. He calls the process Tradigital. Steve’s subject matter is essentially driven by his fascination with the incongruities and con icting self-deceptions created by the struggle between our primal and present modern selves. His work seeks to address and expose these insidious phenomena in a visual language that is focused enough to expose the issue at hand, and just broad enough to not be colloquially and culturally exclusive, hence revealing and bringing awareness to these pitfalls with an ongoing series of provocative yet encouraging contemporary visual sutras. Steve says: “The con uence of evolutionary insistence maps the ways in which we navigate our window of time. It continually negotiates the ever racing existential landscape within which we have only ourselves for the company. I’m excited and surprised by the work. It brings together the multifaceted aspects of my life experience as ingredients for a fresh, cohesive, yet always exploratory world view.”
During the interview at Steve's home with Ellen Opman.
SwansMenBull
Details 'SwansMenBull"
FoodWomanWind
Inspired by the seemingly unrelated act of shooting a TV ad for skincare products on the northern California beach, this piece evokes the artist’s thoughts on the evolving roles of women in contemporary society. Women are icons, mothers, and providers for their families. The literal act of feeding the baby interlaces with the act of earning “food” by working in the commercial. Both actions serve the same purpose: one – natural and direct, and another one – unnatural and indirect. Yet, both very much come from the same person.
TomJ9Pool
CardPlayersShed
LeopardManMountain What is the consequence of egocentric behavior? Here the artist explores the limitations of the human desire to be seen and heard. Those who try too hard to stand out from the crowd often turn out to be ignored and ostracized. The mountain and the ladder both represent human ambitions, whereas the lea ess trunk symbolizes futility and loneliness. The surreal objects intertwine with reality in a seemingly disconnected yet coherent pattern of colors and shapes characteristic of Moors’ style. The conscious and subconscious live here in harmony, inviting the viewer to observe and contemplate.
StripesManSofa
DanielAnimalHead
MarkZebraField
QueenWomenSheep
DigitalKingChair
BambiFigurineCouple Apparently isolated by nature and connected hand in hand, this couple is together and alone at the same time. The timeless notion of love and romance is depicted in dream-like imagery of a fairytale winter garden. The little deer gurines remind the viewer of the favorite childhood tale. The hairstyle and appearance of the couple elicit memories of past centuries, whereas the modern table and the chair bring us back to the present.
NimrodDeerRock
DancersSpyOctopus
ApeAstronautsWomen In the backdrop of an Italian town, we can see a group of women dressed in renaissance gowns overshadowed by the central gure of an ape in a woman’s dress – a homage to Darwin’s evolution theory. What part does evolution play in continuous modern cultures’ view of a woman as an icon? Can the eternal question of nature vs. nurture be answered? What will the future hold for us, the astronauts on the left and right barely distinguishable from each other? The artwork ponders these questions and leaves them with the viewer to contemplate.
BigdressStrapheadWings
DonutBalloonBowtie What are the consequences of society’s obsession with a woman as an icon? Many aspects of femininity can be desensitized and trivialized from a personal perspective, yet, supposedly, the same qualities are idolized from a general perspective. Moors’ DonutBalloonBowtie tackles these perceptions by combining innocent and sweet attributes of femininity, such as donuts, bows, and balloons, with the more mature raw image of a female body as an object of sexual desire. Multiple eyes bore into the viewer just as the viewer devours the vivid imagery of this work.
WrestlersWomanStars
ManhairHouseCactus The pressure to comply with outside collective in uences can be, at times, as intense for men as for women. The cactus represents longevity and endurance while appearing prickly and feisty, all features that can be traditionally associated with men in a generic culture of the Western. Moors invites us to consider how stereotypical expectations can alienate any individual from their true and nuanced calling, replacing authenticity with the banality of accepted and expected behaviors.
HousePlanFamily
FlyingFrogConcervatory
MonkTempleBather
DogsBoxerFamily
CowboyJumping Mountain
T-ShirtBrainCubes
FlowerShirtWoman
BobbyAnimalHead
FloodBatMask
LeavingCouplePlant
HummingbirdsTreeSteps
MinotaurMenKong
LeSelectClownsCoat
FutureMotorbikeIcelandPeople
RoosterBeggarPool
DeersObeliskFrame
StripesMusicGarden
LeavesWallFish
WigsGoldBlack
ScratchheadFatMan
CactusGangArches
JungleWomanJump
WrestlersFluzyStars
ManWomanBoy
Biography Steve was born in London, England, in 1960 and spent his childhood and youth in the Northwest of England. He now lives and works in New York.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2017 Retroactive Engagements, Royston Blythe Gallery. Liverpool, UK 2013 Eye Candy - Ha Sookariot Le Ha Eniem, Ellerman Kashi Gallery. Tel Aviv, Israel 2012 In the Time of Them - Beh Zman Shelakhem, Ellerman Kashi Gallery. Tel Aviv, Israel 2005 Stateside, Alice Eve Gallery. New York, USA 2000 Hard Light - Or Kashay, Yudit Shulman Gallery. Tel Aviv, Israel 1998 Misplaced, Yudit Shulman Gallery. Tel Aviv, Israel 1994 Home of the Brave - Macom Shel Ha Geborim, Pier Gallery. Tel Aviv, Israel 1991 Not for Nothing, David Hemper Gallery. London, UK 1990 Happening Now, David Hemper Gallery. London, UK 1988 Certain Con uence, Daniel Shrödinger Gallery. London, UK 1987 For the Love of Francis B, Daniel Shrödinger Gallery. London, UK 1986 Big Thoughts, New Perspectives Gallery. York, UK 1984 On the Shoulders Of Chapter Art Gallery. Cardi , Wales, UK
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2019 The Other Art Fair (Curated), Saatchi Art Fair. Brooklyn, New York, USA 2019 Traveling Through The Light, Artios Gallery. New York, USA 2010 Flavors of a New Space, Young Martyrs Gallery. Williamsburg, New York, USA 2018 Wild West and Mad, Young Martyrs. Williamsburg, New York, USA 2017 Giving it Away, Young Martyrs. Williamsburg, New York, USA 2004 The Animal Heart, Alice Eve Gallery. New York, USA 2003 Summer Field, Get Real Art Gallery. New York, USA 1997 Heavy Bag - Teek Kaved, Yudit Shulman Gallery. Tel Aviv, Israel 1985 Invitation Only, Victoria & Albert Museum. London, UK. Blitz magazine group show
PUBLIC COLLECTION & COMMERCIAL CLIENTS Rolling Stone Hawaiian Business Magazine Microsoft Time Magazine Johns Hopkins University Fordham Lawyer Magazine Flaunt Magazine New York Times Outside Magazine Hemispheres Boston Globe Magazine The Atlantic Harvard Business Review The American Prospect Strategy & Business Men's Health Magazine Business Week American Way Sierra Club Technology Review Blueprint Sunday Times Magazine (U.K)
Front cover: "LeopardManMountain" by Steve Moors Elena Iosilevich / Graphic design Ellen Opman / Editor Please contact the gallery directly for the price inquiry:Â Â info@artiosgallery.com
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Printed in Amsterdam