Artist Steve McQueen

Artist Steve McQueen

Returns to Art

Steve McQueen, Ashes, 2014
Super 8 film transferred to HD video
Courtesy Thomas Dane Gallery, Marian Goodman Gallery
Copyright Steve McQueen

Steve McQueen’s decision to withdraw from the $100,000 Hugo Boss Prize prompted rumors that the artist-cum-director recently acclaimed for his Oscar-winning feature film Twelve Years A Slave might have put art on the back burner. Not a bit.

McQueen’s new installation Ashes will be unveiled at Espace Louis Vuitton in Tokyo on Saturday. The piece will then travel to Thomas Dane Gallery in London, where it will form the core of a solo presentation of new works by the artist. The show will open on October 14 to coincide with Frieze Art Fair.

Ashes was shot on Super 8 in the West Indies, where McQueen’s parents were born. The piece is said to be related to several of the artist’s earlier works, including Bear(1993), Girls, Tricky (2001) and Carib’s Leap / Western Deep (2002).