Steven Shearer accepts $100,000 Audain Prize for Visual Arts after first in-person photo

The Story

Vancouver artist Steven Shearer accepted the $100,000 Audain Prize for the Visual Arts in person on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026, becoming the first time photos of him were shared online in connection with the award.

The Audain Prize, which goes to a British Columbia-based artist, was established in 2004 by philanthropist Michael Audain’s foundation and is awarded annually. The prize purse increased in 2019 from $30,000 to $100,000.

In a video shared by the Audain Prize that did not show his face, Shearer said he had not intended to keep images of himself off the internet. “I’ve never intended to not have images of me on the internet and stuff, but that’s just how it’s worked out. It’s just the dynamic that’s built up over years and years. That’s what I’m comfortable doing,” he said in the video.

On Wednesday, Shearer opted not to deliver remarks at the event and instead took part in one-on-one, off-camera interviews with journalists in the room. Photographs of him were taken by assembled journalists as he accepted the prize.

Shearer works across multiple media, including paintings that combine modern subjects with a traditional style. His work has also included large-scale manipulations of found imagery, including photos of people sleeping that he finds online and enlarges to massive scale.

In presenting the award, Josée Drouin-Brisebois, director of national engagement at the National Gallery of Canada, praised Shearer’s “unique unapologetic voice that continues to distinguish itself both at home and abroad.” She said Shearer has “encouraged us to see the world differently, to consider connections through time between the ways artists have expressed themselves at various moments in history and the images that surround us today.”

Shearer has previously been selected to represent Canada at the Venice Biennale. In 2011, his solo exhibition included paintings, drawings and a sculpture, along with what his representative described as “a nine-meter-high free-standing mural in response to the architecture of the adjacent British and German Pavilions.”

The independent committee that selects the Audain Prize winner presents the award on behalf of the Audain Art Museum. Last year’s winner was Brian Jungen.