For Immediate Release: July 13, 2022
Steve Keene’s 30-Year Retrospective Celebrates
A Book Launch & Features A Site-Specific Mural
& Collections from Across The US
#SKartShowLA Los Angeles Exhibition
At Palm Grove Social July 28 - August 12
Opening Party To Feature Performance By PAINT
Artist’s Return to City That Sparked the 6 Year Journey
Behind The Steve Keene Art Book
Please RSVP here.
From July 28 - August 12, Steve Keene will return to Los Angeles for his first-ever 30 Year Retrospective Show celebrating the release of The Steve Keene Art Book out now via Hat & Beard Press.
The opening party will be held on Thursday, July 28 from 7pm - 11pm at the centrally located Palm Grove Social, 4660 W. Washington Blvd, Los Angeles, 90016 in Mid-City. Besides the rooms full of Hand Painted Multiples, Album Art Tributes and oversized murals, the #SKArtShowLA July 28 kick-off will feature the psychedelic musings of Los Angeles’ own – and Allah-Las guitarist – Pedrum Siadatian’s band PAINT, performing a set from their latest Mexican Summer records release Spiritual Vegas (2021).
The multi-room exhibit will include a new Steve Keene site-specific mural, as well as artworks from various personal collections including: Daniel Efram (New York), producer/auteur of The Steve Keene Art Book, and from The Apples in stereo’s Robert Schneider (Athens, Georgia) and Eric Allen (Denver, Colorado). Huge, 25+ year-old, one-of-kind Steve Keene painted canvas murals owned by noted LA record producer/engineer Adam Lasus and The Apples’ Allen, respectively, will be shown for the first time. Additionally, Los Angeles locals have been invited to submit their Steve Keene collections online in return for the possibility of being included in the loaner show.
Keene’s long-awaited return to Los Angeles follows the show that proved to be the inspiration behind the book: his 2016 “Modular Synthesis” month-long stay at Shepard Fairey’s Subliminal Projects gallery, where Efram saw Keene sell more than 500 pieces on opening night with lines stretching out the door and around the block in Echo Park.
Background on The Steve Keene Art Book: Today, The Steve Keene Art Book (#SKartBook) — the highly anticipated, first ever published collection featuring the work of one of America’s most beloved and affordable artists, Steve Keene — is out now via Hat & Beard and Tractor Beam. Documenting arguably the most prolific and collected American artist of all time, the book arrives after a successful Kickstarter campaign with over 600 backers, and has seen support from Forbes, Variety, Billboard, Consequence, Sound Opinions and beyond. Nearly the same size as the LPs that Keene is so very fond of, The Steve Keene Art Book is more than simply a love letter to the prominent vinyl fan and cultural icon.
Perhaps best-known for his deep ties to the 90s indie rock scene — thanks to work with Pavement, The Apples in stereo, The Silver Jews, Bonnie “Prince” Billy and more — Keene is a legend amongst music and art fans both for his vibrant, automated style, and his everyman prices of just $5 - $10 per painting. After producing over 300,000 hand-painted original pieces over the last 30+ years, he’s earned his reputation as the art world’s “Johnny Appleseed,” allowing thousands to become art collectors and challenging the notion that “good art” has to be expensive art along the way.
Produced by Daniel Efram over a span of six years, The Steve Keene Art Book came to fruition from efforts to document a 2016 exhibition at legendary artist Shepard Fairey’s Subliminal Projects gallery, but expanded to include original works sent in from dozens of Keene collectors and Kickstarter supporters. The book includes long-form essays and insight into Keene’s life, space and process from rock stars like Chan Marshall (Cat Power), Will Oldham, and members of Superchunk, as well as anecdotes and personal stories from artists like Ryan McGinness and Fairey, journalists, collectors, art-world insiders and devoted fans around the world. Alongside a dazzling collection of 277 of Keene’s works, Efram takes readers into Keene’s utilitarian chain-link “painting cage” for an all-access pass into the artist’s fascinating systemic technique.
For more information:
David Elkin, david@girlieaction.com
Rosie Boyd, rosie@girlieaction.com
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