A Letter to Kev

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Government Art Collection

In this seemingly simple portrait of a man reading a letter, the artist Zearo is able to both convey a particular psychological state, and implicate his viewer in the act of looking. We feel we are looking in on a private moment. Zearo draws on his own lived experience to explore ideas of the male gaze, masculinity, longing and desire through a queer lens. The characters and scenes that he renders in many of his works are influenced by his understanding of traditional Chinese hand scroll painting in terms of their composition and the capturing of a psychological landscape but also by a particular South-East Asian milieu where same-sex desires are often obscured in society. He works with pastels, pigments and oil paint to create the softness found on his surfaces that bring to mind ideas of both secrecy and care.

Zearo was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and lives and works in London. He received an MA in painting from the Royal College of Art in 2023. Exhibitions include: YA!, 3812 Gallery, London; Across & Over, HSBC HQ, London; Tightrope, The Bomb Factory ArtFoundation, London; Wild is the Wind, Hew Hood Gallery, London; Royal College of Art Degree Show, Truman Brewery, London, UK; and Ruth Borchard Self Portrait Prize exhibition (all 2023); Bloomberg New Contemporaries, South London Gallery, London and Ferens Art Gallery, Hull, (2022); Come One Come All, The Function Suite, London (2022); RAW-RCA WIP Show, Soho Revue, London (2021); Lingua Franker- A Shiftiest Show, HOXTON 253, London (2021); Set In Motion, G13 Gallery, Selangor, Malaysia (2019); Got It For Cheap, Dateline Gallery,Colorado, US (2019); and Art Salon, Artesque, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2018).

Places

Subjects

Materials & Techniques

Artist

Zearo (1996 - )

Title

A Letter to Kev

Date

2021

Medium

Oil on linen with wooden frame

Dimensions

height: 42.4 cm; width: 35.8 cm

Provenance

Purchased from New Contemporaries, January 2023

GAC number

19179