[1] After 1996, he returned to figurative art in his paintings and other work, focusing on youth, alienation, aggression, melancholy, and heavy metal.
[7] In the catalogue,[8] Helena Reckitt wrote: Drawn to scrappily resistant forms of expression, Shearer celebrates the anger, aggression and creativity that bubble beneath the surface of polite society.
Like other Vancouver artists before him, he revels in the detritus of everyday life, associating discarded objects and degraded media with social outsiders.
His mural, billboard, and poster poems inspired by scatological and blasphemous Heavy Metal lyrics and song titles present visions of the nihilistic sublime that would be disturbing if they weren't so entertainingly hyperbolic.
[7]In 2021, a series of Shearer`s photographic works referring to historical paintings was removed from a popular walking and cycling route along Vancouver's West Side due to complaints from the public.