Keith Mayerson

Mayerson is noted for his expressive, representational paintings based mostly on photographs, magazines, books, newspapers, films, and his own archive. The work ranges from paintings that celebrate the sublime beauty of America’s landscape to those reflecting traumatic moments that redefined American culture. Through a meticulous process of first abstracting and then reunifying the image, Mayerson immerses himself in both the formal and metaphorical aspects of his subjects. He translates the familiar into the spirited using a gestural style and vibrant palette, capturing the intangible essence of diverse places and people.

Mayerson explores concepts of power, strength, and authority through portraits of diverse figures ranging from superheroes to politicians. At the same time, he mines his own history, representing both the prosaic and special moments that ground life. He interrogates bigotry and persecution through works that honor the oppressed. As the artist states, his paintings “serve as both a personal homage to those people and experiences that have shaped [my] own individual identity and beliefs, and a reminder of their broader social and historical impact.”

His work is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, the Los Angles County Museum of Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Columbus Museum of Art, the Corcoran Gallery, Washington D.C., and the Whitney Museum of American Art. 

Courtesy of the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland