10/1/1998 12:13:00 AM
Fresh Art Daily
Artist Stephen Keene Brings Assembly-Line Technique to Art Gallery
BY LISA NUTTING
Rice News Staff
Oct. 1, 1998
On a recent Sunday afternoon, artist Stephen Keene sold about 1,000 paintings
and more than 100 pieces of furniture at the Rice University Art Gallery. If
you missed the sale, don't worry--this Yale-trained artist has been painting
70-plus renderings daily since his Sept. 3 campus arrival and will offer his
works for sale each Sunday through Oct. 18.
The Brooklyn-based painter's show, titled "Stephen Keene: Fresh Art Daily,"
is a performance-based exhibit that opened Sept. 10 and will close Oct. 18.
His works are for sale on Sundays only and range in price from $1 to $15 each.
Sales are limited to two purchases per person.
Keene's artistic habits resemble those of a production-line worker. In creating
his paintings, he uses an assembly-line technique, lining up 40 to 100 plywood
boards on large easels. He makes the same brush stroke on each work, returns
to the first board to make the next brush stroke, and so on, until the nearly
identical works are complete.
"It's just like if I was a baker and had to decorate 50 cakes that day,"
Keene said.
Keene's early performance art years began with on-site exhibits at rock concerts,
where he'd sell his work "real cheap."
"It's an idea that just evolved, of creating art that is informal,"
Keene said. "I'll never paint just one of an image--it's more like 10.
My goal is to sell as many as possible before it's all over."
Keene's performance style progressed naturally, he said, from informal shows
at concerts to gallery exhibitions such as Rice's "Fresh Art Daily."
"I thought, 'Why don't I just take this on the road so I can do this on
site,'" Keene said. "It was never really planned, it just kind of
evolved."
During his Rice exhibit, the artist predicts he will sell all 2,000 pieces of
art he brought with him from his New York studio plus all of the new paintings
he's creating on site. He has sold more than 23,000 paintings in his seven years
of performance-style exhibiting. While that number may sound incredible, for
Keene, it is just the tip of the iceberg.
"I think of it like, if I was in a band and we put out a record and you're
in 23,000 homes," Keene said. "It's not really that good. My goal
is to sell one million paintings."
"Living in New York you become very resourceful. You go get stuff off
the street, paint it, sell it when you need cash. It's like free money to me."
In addition to his paintings, Keene also transforms old furniture--such as
chairs and bed-posts--into colorful works of art. Because his work is so inexpensive,
he must rely on donated or found furniture to avoid losing money.
"Living in New York you become very resourceful," he said. "You
go get stuff off the street, paint it, sell it when you need cash. It's like
free money to me."
During his Rice stay, Keene is lodging in the guest suite of Jones College.
While he is used to working in his unair-conditioned studio and home in the
Big Apple, Keene says the air conditioning is a nice change of pace, though
he finds it somewhat unnatural. He does enjoy the clean environment and good
"free" food.
Those wanting a memento of Rice will find many of Keene's new paintings depict
buildings and architectural details seen around campus. Keene refers to photographs
or postcards in creating the colorful paintings, which range in size.
"That's the last thing I think about--what I'm going to paint," Keene
said. "I just find a photograph and paint it."
Kimberly Davenport, director of the Rice gallery, said she noticed smiles on
nearly all patrons viewing the works on the first day of the sale. She believes
the colorful paintings evoke happy feelings for the viewers.
"I'm grateful that people get into it," Keene said. "I'm sort
of in my own biosphere [while painting]."
The public is welcome to watch as Keene mass-produces his paintings Tuesdays
through Sundays during regular gallery hours. Crowds often gather outside the
gallery window, where a good view of the artist is available.
Gallery hours are: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, open until 8
p.m. Thursdays; noon to 5 p.m. Sunday; closed Mondays and university holidays.
For more information call (713) 527-6069.
The Rice University Art Gallery is located in Houston's Museum District on the
Rice campus at 6100 Main St. in Sewall Hall. To reach the gallery, enter the
university through Entrance 1 at the corner of Main and Sunset. Turn left at
the grassy common area then take a quick right. The gallery is located straight
ahead and parking is to the left.
