In 1989, Steers received a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Fellowship[5] and had his first solo exhibition. He went on to exhibit his work in over 30 shows across the United States and Italy.[3]
Steers' work, primarily figurative painting, is featured in the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Walker Art Center, and the Denver Art Museum.[1] He painted in a style that mixed dreamlike allegory with Expressionist-tinged realism and incorporated art history references. In the 1990s, his work increasingly dealt with AIDS and many of his paintings showed male figures alone nearly nude or clothed in women's attire. Steers also depicted pairs of men bathing, dressing each other, and embracing. In his final works, he painted a self-portrait of a man dressed in a white hospital gown with white high heels. The figure is shown entering the lives of other characters as both an avenging and a guardian angel.[1]
A comprehensive monographic catalogue of Steers’ work was published by Visual AIDS in 2015.[5]
Personal life
Steers was openly gay[3] and died of AIDS related complications in 1995 at the age of 32.[1]