BIOGRAPHY of Keith Andrew Law (KLAW): I am a practicing California artist in many mediums, and also currently write fiction, and political commentary under the name Reverend Andy. My short stories are linked to the “short stories” page HERE. You can find a collection of my political commentary HERE. Thank you for reading!

I received a Bachelor of Fine Art degree with a minor in philosophy from California State East Bay (Hayward). I was then accepted into the MFA program at San Francisco State University in both printmaking and sculpture. My interest in theoretical and conceptual art practices led me into the Interdisciplinary Art Program, and eventually to San Francisco State’s philosophy department were I earned a Master’s Degree. I was honored by the faculty of the School of Humanities with the Graduate Student Award for Distinguished Achievement in Major Field. Between degrees I worked for a brief period as a printmaker for Kathyn Brown at Crown Point Press, San Francisco, CA.

I did not embark on a professional art practice directly after graduating college. Among other activities, I taught philosophy and humanities courses full-time for the California Community College (CCC) system. I also raised two exceptionally lovable children, Brandon and Kristen, who are now amazing adults. After becoming an empty-nester I travelled extensively on sabbatical research projects throughout Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, West Africa, and Asia.

I established an art studio in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2000, and recently upon retirement from CCC relocated my studio practice to Stockton CA.

ARTIST’S STATEMENT: The totality of my art work throughout the years is eclectic; however, there are common threads. These include a dialogue with art history, a fascination with the relationship between visual and textual communication, looming catastrophe, and the alchemical transformation of mishap, decay, and other crap into visual gold.

My work draws from DADA and Pop artists who initiated the deconstruction of traditional art mediums and boundaries and emphasized conceptually driven work. We are still within their historical moment. From Hegel to Walter Benjamin, prominent modern philosophers and art theorists have mourned a loss of the "aura" that once characterized great art of the past. This loss is alleged either to modern self-critical and even cynical sensibilities (Hegel), or to the sophisticated merging of aesthetics and reproductive technology in the service of commerce and reactionary political movements (Benjamin). Issues surrounding authorship and meaning in a world dominated by corporate influences pervade contemporary cultural production. I hope to raise these issues in my work.  

I am currently working on two painting/multi-media series that owe their conceptions to the authors Samuel Beckett and James Joyce. A third provisional series I am working on is titled Roadkill.

The first series, titled Nothing More to Say… is inspired by the literary works of Samuel Beckett. This series involves images (paintings, photos, videos, multi-media) of mostly decaying billboards upon which nothing is posted, and which are standing with nothing said in varying environments, from urban to bucolic. I have nothing more to say about that.

My second series, which I have titled Joyce/NOLA, is inspired by James Joyce, and involves the detailed representational painting of the absence of painting/s. In a letter to his artist friend Jacques Emile Blanche, Joyce remarked, “I was fond of pictures, but now the nails on the walls are quite enough.” (James Joyce, Richard Ellman, Oxford Univ. Press 1959). This comment has double meaning: Are pictures being demoted and no longer of value, or are nails and picture hangers elevated to the status of fine art similar to a Duchamp ready-made? After Hurricane Katrina (2005), I travelled to New Orleans during my summer vacation from teaching to assist with the rebuilding efforts. While exploring the damage there I came across many walls with nothing but nails and picture hangers. The pictures had been removed by those escaping, the flood waters, or looters. I was inspired to put the two insights together to come up with Joyce/NOLA.

I am also working on a series titled Roadkill. The inspiration for Roadkill is “roadkill.” As a road bike enthusiast, I often come across all manner of animals that have died on the road from being hit by automobiles. This is a common experience for all road bike riders. I am also an animal rights advocate. A disregard for the pain and suffering of non-human animals is exemplified by the way they are ignored when dying on the side of the road, and by the objectifying label “roadkill.” The animals I have photographed for this series appear dignified and even sublime in death. I hope one day to build a shrine to the unknown “roadkill.”

My past artworks include the singular project, Untitled (:) Materiae Coprologicae, and two series titled, Danger Signs, and My Little Red Story Book: This is a California State Textbook. These projects are conceptual in origin but incorporate oil paint as a medium.

Untitled (:) Materiae Coprologicae consists of a series of monochrome paintings captured in an exhibition brochure. The exhibition never happened, and I still wonder if it ever should. This piece is satirical on several levels, and like many satirical pieces, it takes critical jabs at institutions, which in this case includes the high-brow art world and thus myself too. The brochure can be read HERE. For a hard copy contact the artist: klawenterprises101@gmail.com.

Danger Signs consists of richly painted representations of actual warning signs that, by reframing, become tragicomic metaphors for the anxiety associated with the violence and terror that are the flip side of modern technological and economic developments.

The individual pieces that comprise, My Little Red Story Book were appropriated from a primary reader that was first published in the post WWII era. What I find provocative about the original story-images is the affirmation of violence, as adorable children are depicted terrorizing dolls and pets or crashing wagons and tricycles with glee. I rendered these story-images in a rich painterly style, and framed them in wood paneling as one finds in many older classrooms. Post 9/11 both this series and Danger Signs turned to images related to air travel.

EXHIBITIONS:

KABOOM!, (solo exhibition) One artist show - Merced COOP Art gallery, Merced CA. 7/5-7/28, 2012

See Jane Run: Contemporary art about childhood (and other cozy things) - Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek CA. 4/30-6/25, 2006

Danger Signs! (solo exhibition) - Merced College Art gallery, Merced, CA. 10/20 -11/17, 2004

Go West! - Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA (juror, Renny Pritikin) 6/30-8/21, 2004

New Visions: Introductions 2002 - Pro Arts, Oakland, CA, 7/3-8/10, 2002

Recent Paintings (solo exhibition) - Picaro Cafe, San Francisco, CA. 1988

Spaces - University Art Gallery, California State University Hayward, Hayward CA. 1986