Steve Keene
Encyclopedia
Stephen Keene is an American
artist
who believes in mass producing hand painted works of art for the masses. He was called the "Assembly-Line Picasso
" by Time
magazine. He has worked with music acts like Silver Jews
, Pavement
, The Apples in Stereo
, Soul Coughing
, Dave Matthews Band
, Merzbow
and The Victoria Lucas for music album covers, video sets, stage sets and promotional posters.
Keene studied at Yale University
.
From January 20 to February 14 of 2006, Steve Keene was featured at the University of Kansas
in Lawrence, KS to paint artwork for public viewing and to sell his work. According to the Student Union Activities webpage - the program that hosted his visit - Steve says, "I want buying my paintings to be like buying a CD
: it’s cheap, it's art and it changes your life, but the object has no status. Musicians create something for the moment, something with no boundaries and that kind of expansiveness is what I want to come across in my work."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
who believes in mass producing hand painted works of art for the masses. He was called the "Assembly-Line Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
" by Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine. He has worked with music acts like Silver Jews
Silver Jews
Silver Jews was an indie rock band from New York City, formed in 1989 by David Berman along with Pavement's Stephen Malkmus and Bob Nastanovich. Berman remained throughout and was the only constant member. During the last few albums, Cassie Berman became a regular member of the band...
, Pavement
Pavement (band)
Pavement is an American alternative rock band that formed in Stockton, California in 1989. In their career, they achieved a significant cult following, and they were called the best band of the 1990s by prominent music critics Robert Christgau and Stephen Thomas Erlewine...
, The Apples in Stereo
The Apples in Stereo
The Apples in Stereo, styled The Apples in stereo, is an American indie rock band associated with The Elephant Six Collective, a group of bands also including Neutral Milk Hotel and The Olivia Tremor Control. The band is largely a product of lead vocalist/guitarist Robert Schneider, who writes the...
, Soul Coughing
Soul Coughing
Soul Coughing was a popular New York-based alternative rock band. The band found modest mainstream success during the mid-to-late 1990s. Soul Coughing developed a devout fanbase and have garnered largely positive response from critics. Steve Huey describes the band as "one of the most unusual cult...
, Dave Matthews Band
Dave Matthews Band
Dave Matthews Band, sometimes shortened to DMB, is a U.S. rock band formed in Charlottesville, Virginia in 1991. The founding members were singer-songwriter and guitarist Dave Matthews, bassist Stefan Lessard, drummer/backing vocalist Carter Beauford and saxophonist LeRoi Moore. Boyd Tinsley was...
, Merzbow
Merzbow
is the main recording name of the Japanese noise musician , born in 1956. Since 1979 he has released in excess of 350 recordings.The name "Merzbow" comes from German artist Kurt Schwitters' artwork, "Merzbau”. This was chosen to reflect Akita's dada influence and junk art aesthetic...
and The Victoria Lucas for music album covers, video sets, stage sets and promotional posters.
Keene studied at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
.
From January 20 to February 14 of 2006, Steve Keene was featured at the University of Kansas
University of Kansas
The University of Kansas is a public research university and the largest university in the state of Kansas. KU campuses are located in Lawrence, Wichita, Overland Park, and Kansas City, Kansas with the main campus being located in Lawrence on Mount Oread, the highest point in Lawrence. The...
in Lawrence, KS to paint artwork for public viewing and to sell his work. According to the Student Union Activities webpage - the program that hosted his visit - Steve says, "I want buying my paintings to be like buying a CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
: it’s cheap, it's art and it changes your life, but the object has no status. Musicians create something for the moment, something with no boundaries and that kind of expansiveness is what I want to come across in my work."