Steve McQueen (not the one you're thinking of)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/venice-biennale/5394613/Venice-Biennale-Steve-McQueen-interview.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_McQueen_(artist)



McQueen’s films are frequently about the body, about replicating the intensity of physical sensation; they are also predominantly silent, more visceral than verbal. “There are so many people who sit in a cinema or look at art, and they’re numb to it,” McQueen says. “We are very sophisticated viewers. In a way, I’m trying to break that barrier. I’m interested in pushing language and physicality to their extremes. It’s not a gimmick. I’m not trying to fool people. I’m trying to engage them.”



One of his most refined works is also one of his most famous. In 2003, the Imperial War Museum appointed McQueen as official war artist to Iraq. The result was Queen and Country, which was bought for the nation by the Art Fund and is touring Britain. It consists of wooden cabinets filled with sheets of facsimile stamps bearing photographic portraits of 155 dead British soldiers chosen by their families. McQueen considers the work unfinished until the stamps are officially issued by Royal Mail.



“The second-in-command of the Ministry of Defence said to me, 'We’re not against the stamps, but why can’t you do landscapes?’ And I said, 'Are you ashamed of these people?’ The whole idea is to give them visibility. They need to be present, not just a number. This isn’t a pro-war or an anti-war project. It’s not about Left or Right, or right and wrong. It’s about allowing this situation to reach the general public, not through the sensationalism of the media, but entering the everyday, entering people’s lives when they bend down and pick up their mail.”