BY FEATURED ARTIST: COLLEEN KEEFE

Untitled 2020.1

COLLEEN KEEFE / SEPT 2021 / ISSUE 9

For a long time my work has explored methods for breeding urban environments using organic models—multicellular organisms’ reproductive and propulsion strategies, pollination methods employed by plants, or stellar birth. The resulting images depict cities grown organically, without an “urban planner” as protagonist, based on environmental conditions and observing “natural” rules that are internally consistent—a closed set describing the universe they inhabit. These “city organisms” serve as stand-ins for any kind of naturally evolving phenomena—the universe, our galaxy, our solar system, our planet, our species, our society, our selves, and further down the macro/micro scale.

More recently I’ve been experimenting with gestural work and writing. Untitled 2020.1 is part of a series of smaller gestural, meditative works on Yupo paper.

Colleen Keefe (they/them) is a visual artist, writer and curator based in Philadelphia. They received an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art and a BFA from Washington University. Recent solo exhibitions include Speer Gallery, Bryn Mawr PA, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson / Design Center, Philadelphia PA, Robert Henry Contemporary, New York, NY, Abington Arts Center, Jenkintown, PA, and RHV Fine Art, Brooklyn, NY. Their work has been reviewed in the New York Times, Village Voice, Bushwick Daily, Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia City Paper, Toronto Globe and News, LA Times, Sculpture Magazine, theartblog.org and Title Magazine. In addition to their studio practice, Keefe has been curating since 1995 – first, as co-director of 57 Hope in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, NY (1995-2001), and currently as co-director of Mount Airy Contemporary (2009-present).