This was the first solo exhibition in the UK by Canadian artist Steven Shearer. His practice is concerned with the visual language of heavy metal sub-cultures, class and suburban teenage identity, articulated through found amateur photographic documentation, drawings, paintings and text works. This exhibition had particular resonance in Birmingham, a city famous for bands such as Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin.

Shearer’s work involves collecting thousands of found photographs from the Internet. The attraction of these images lies in their poor composition and non-manipulated, amateur aesthetic. They are then systematised into works such as Metal Archive (2001), featuring a large-scale grid compiled of found images of Black Sabbath paraphernalia taken from eBay. In this and other similar works, it is the context that becomes key, raising issues of taste and class. At once they provide material for a fascinating anthropological and social study, and have autobiographical significance as Shearer often inserts images of himself into the works. In this exhibition, they were shown alongside recent oil paintings and drawings in pencil and biro, considered by the artist to be a culmination of his archival activity.

The Steven Shearer exhibition was produced in collaboration with Power Plant, Toronto and is generously supported by the Department for Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) and Canada Council with the assistance of the Canadian High Commission in London.