Philip Steele | Each man kills the thing he loves...

Philip Steele | Each man kills the thing he loves...

A major solo exhibition of over 100 new paintings by Philip Steele titled “Each man kills the thing he loves...”, commemorating erotic actors, from the late 20th and early 21st Centuries, and how their images have brought us so much pleasure, will open at Nel Gallery in Cape Town at 6 PM on 21 October and runs until 20 November 2021. All are welcome.

This important exhibition will showcase works on paper, and canvas, which will wallpaper both floors of Nel Gallery. This immersive installation will remember the individuals who have generously given us their bodies, inspired our fantasies, and empowered our identities. The exhibition will memorialise these actors as contemporary martyrs. Their deaths were often tragic, uncanny, and violent. It is shocking how many of them died at the hands of others, even by their biggest fans. Others died from AIDS, and many by suicide.

Like an investigator Steele spent months researching each and every individual. He would find out their personal stories from obituaries, police reports, social media accounts, and even their gravestones. The style and honesty of Steele’s work has been compared to the likes of like Andy Warhol and Marlene Dumas.

Steele explains his process: “I began to empathize with these individuals. For some people these actors meant so much, and their deaths were met with great sadness. Others believed these actors were deserving of a premature death because of the way they lived their lives. This body of work has taught me just how lethal prejudice can be. My work uses painting to memorialize and beautify (the second stage in canonizing saints) male erotic film actors. These martyrs, for me and many other gay men before me, represent beauty, positive affirmation of gay desire that was both celebrated and acted upon unashamedly.”

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