September 8 - October 8, 2017
Steve Keene
TEN YEARS AFTER!
New York-based artist Steve Keene returns to Roanoke College with his exhibition, TEN YEARS AFTER! This exhibition marked the ten year anniversary since he first produced and sold hundreds of his brightly colored hand painted multiples in Olin Gallery. Once called the “Assembly-line Picasso” by Times magazine, Keene’s artistic process consists of replicating hundreds of painted images a day, emphasizing the temporality and performance-based nature of his art.
Keene believes art should be accessible to all, stating that “I want buying my paintings to be like buying a CD: it’s cheap, it’s art and it changes your life.” Keene’s artistic roots can be traced back to Brooklyn’s music scene, where during his college years he worked as a disk jockey, afterwards painting album covers, posters, and stage sets for indie-rock groups, such as Dave Mathews Band and Steve West’s Pavement.
Originally from Virginia, Keene obtained his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and Master of Fine Arts from Yale University. Keene is nationally and internationally exhibited, with about 250,000 of his paintings, wood sculptures, and tattooed plywood belonging to public and private collections around the world.
