Thomas Steyer - Cruel Nature

Cruel Nature
Technique: oil on canvas

Measurements
Canvas size: 120 × 80 cm (without stretcher frame)
Canvas size: 132 × 92 cm

Technology & Materials
oil on canvas
Executed with brushes

Shipping
Rolled, wrapped in bubble wrap, and securely shipped in a box.

Description
Cruel Nature is a large-format oil painting on canvas, whose image surface is clearly divided into six squares. This visible order forms a firm grid, initially giving the image structure and control. However, within these fields, a raw, unrestrained use of color unfolds. Intense red and orange tones dominate the individual squares, interwoven with green, blue, and darker accents. The paint is applied thickly, with vigorous brushstrokes and noticeable overlays that make movement and resistance palpable. In each field, there is a shift between density and dissolution, calm and pressure. The strict composition stands in clear contrast to the uncontrollable dynamism of the painting. 'Cruel Nature' depicts nature not as a harmonious counterpart but as an autonomous force that eludes human order and unfolds beyond intention, care, or morality.

The accompanying poem 'The Worm' embraces this openness. It does not attempt to explain the image but expands the space of perception. Meaning is not fixed but arises in the viewer itself, between inner reflection and the immediate experience of color and form.

Poem "The Worm"

Dug up an earthworm
the longest I've ever seen
while paving a garden path
To make my home look clean.

Thought it wouldn't suit the worm.
to be trapped under so much rock
So I handed him over to my neighbor.
Someone who has a lot of lawn around their property.

I hoped the worm would appreciate it.
That my strategy has saved his day.
When a crow came swooping down,
Picked him up and flew away.

Tom Steyer's sure hand and skilled brushwork at first deceive the viewer into thinking that something they know and recognize is being eloquently portrayed by a master realist artist.

If only one stands a little closer or further away, it will all become something.

The best way to identify what is going on in Steyer's paintings is to think of him as an Abstract Realist.

The current paintings showcase Steyer's uncanny ability to identify and organize his deepest nameless impulses, previewing them if you like, then faithfully realize them in paint, at speed.

Ted Blackall (2003)


About the artist – Summary

I am Thomas Steyer, born in 1955 in Berlin, and I received my artistic training in Berlin and London. After years in London and Sydney, I now work in the Markgräflerland south of Freiburg. My painting evolved from realism to abstract expressionism, in which I translate feelings, thoughts, and impressions directly into color and form. The works are created intuitively and provide viewers with space for their own sensations, often far beyond the visible.

About the artist – Detailed version

Thomas Steyer is a contemporary German painter whose artistic career has been characterized by a continuous development between precision and free imagery. During his art studies in London, he developed an early fascination with objects with reflective surfaces. Household and office items, kitchen utensils, and bicycle parts became central motifs in his oil painting.

After completing his studies, Steyer independently sought clients and developed an unusual sales model. He painted technically inspired objects such as ball bearings, radiator figures, or microphones and sold these works directly to manufacturers. At the same time, he contacted musicians he admired, borrowed their instruments, and created large-scale paintings of guitars. Some of these works were later used for album covers, including the image of Mark Knopfler's Steel Guitar for Dire Straits' album 'Brothers in Arms.'

In 1984, Steyer discovered the work with the airbrush through a chance encounter with the English illustrator Tom Stimpson. The new technique opened up new possibilities for him and led to a successful phase in advertising illustration, during which he distinguished himself particularly through photorealistic representations.

In 1989, Steyer moved to Australia after thirteen years in London and settled in Sydney. There, he continued working as an illustrator and freelance painter. Over time, both activities developed in different directions. While his illustrations became increasingly realistic, his free painting shifted more and more towards abstraction. Large, color-intensive works emerged as a conscious counterpoint to his precise, figurative commissioned work.

In 1995, Steyer began to engage intensively with digital image creation. He was among the first illustrators in Australia to switch their entire workflow to digital systems. This step enabled him to have an international focus in his work and a considerable independence from geographical boundaries.

After a total of 27 years abroad, Steyer returned to Germany in 2003 and settled in the Markgräflerland between Freiburg and Basel. He has lived and worked there ever since. The experiences from different countries, fields of work, and artistic phases influence his current painting and form the basis for a body of work that conveys a balance between structure and freedom, control and intuition.

You can find more insights at:
www.thomas-steyer.de