Alessandro Keegan's paintings, which he considers abstract, straddle the lines between science, nature, technology, and mysticism. He explores a 'mystical science' of metaphysical and fantastical spaces using mysterious forms such...
Alessandro Keegan's paintings, which he considers abstract, straddle
the lines between science, nature, technology, and mysticism. He
explores a 'mystical science' of metaphysical and fantastical spaces
using mysterious forms such as dew drops, crystals, eyes, shells, and
many others that hold person resonance for Keegan. In his newest
paintings from 2022, Keegan explores impossible worlds and
temporalities: utopias, the lost city of Atlantis, and the time scale
used to measure celestial movements in space.
His
compositions come to him in complete form, which he quickly captures by
sketching, completing many drawings until the form feels right. Then he
turns to colors, instinctively feeling out combinations and palettes,
often combining natural hues with the synthetic. These color
combinations have an almost synesthetic effect for Keegan, who says that
certain pairings have tastes: magenta and yellow, for instance, taste
like marzipan. Once his initial colors are chosen, he carefully maps out
his shapes freehand with measuring tools and then begins to paint with
oils, a medium he considers outside of history. His process is
meticulous and laborious, hours spent on each shape until it is finished
from every angle.
Alessandro Keegan (b. 1980) is a visual
artist, writer, and professor living and working in Walden, NY. He
holds an MFA in painting and drawing from The School of the Art
Institute of Chicago and an MA in art history from Brooklyn College.
Keegan
has been exhibited in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, London, Dublin,
Barcelona, and The Hague. Writings about his work have appeared in
Artforum, Elephant Magazine, Masthead Magazine and Ephemera NYC as well
as journals such as Helvete (Punctum Books, Brooklyn) and J’ai Froid
(Castillo/Corrales, Paris). Keegan’s art practice featured in a 2020
documentary called “The Matter of Mind” by Full Moon Films.