David Zwirner is pleased to present Profaned Travelers, its first exhibition with Canadian artist Steven Shearer (b. 1968) since the announcement of his representation by the gallery in 2021. In his paintings, drawings, assemblages, sculptures, and installations, Shearer has developed a practice that weds canonical art history to the contemporary moment, specifically its more plebeian or subterranean expressions. Across the gallery’s 533 West 19th Street location, the artist will present a body of works on canvas that engage with the theme of sleep—a subject prominent in the history of art that also broaches such topics as mortality, vulnerability, ecstasy, and revelation. The presentation at David Zwirner follows the opening of Steven Shearer: Sleep, Death’s Own Brother, on view at The George Economou Collection, Athens, through March 2024.

Image: Steven Shearer, Whiskered Sentinel, 2023.