Keith Mayerson My American Dream April 26 - May 25, 2013 Opening Reception: Friday, April 26, 6-8 pm Derek Eller Gallery is pleased to present My American Dream, an installation of new paintings by Keith Mayerson. My American Dream is a non-linear narrative series of paintings that tell a story of contemporary America through a sequence of representational and abstract imagery. Inspired by avant-garde theater, prose poetry, independent comics, the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds and Brian Wilson’s Smile, Mayerson takes the viewer on a journey through his vision of the United States. The show features representational paintings that address the current historical moment (the rising support for gay marriage, the first black president), America’s past via cultural icons (the bald eagle, James Dean), and power and patriotism (twilight views from Rockefeller Center and the Statue of Liberty.) The show also includes Mayerson’s abstract “Iconscapes”. These paintings show how figurative works break into abstraction, and how in these works, as one concentrates on the imagery, figures appear- ultimately helping to make the experience of viewing these works a journey through the heart of our America. The exhibition begins with an image of Obama and his family on the eve of his re-election (as depicted on the front page of The New York Times), and ends with a painting of the artist’s family watching television in bed from 1970 (the only “appropriated” images in the show). Inspired by Manet and Monet, who made paintings which were both political, personal as well as painterly, each painting takes us deeper on a journey through the American (un-)consciousness. From iconic images of New York City, to scenes from Fairmount Indiana (the hometown and resting place of James Dean), to California (where Mayerson has a cabin home with his husband) and finally to his family back in time in Colorado, the exhibition reflects a cosmological panorama of the artist’s life, influences, and aspirations. Seen together as a narrative, My American Dream is ultimately not just the story of the artist, but of the American psyche at the beginning of the 21st Century: struggling, but hopeful, ascending forward to realize the ideals of liberty and equality. Derek Eller Gallery is located at 615 West 27th Street, between 11th and 12th Avenues. Hours are Tuesday - Saturday from 11am - 6pm. For further information or visuals, please contact the gallery at 212.206.6411or visit www.derekeller.com
Keith Mayerson, “Letter written on a plane to and fro Columbus�
Plates
1.
2.
3.
Obama’s Night, 2012 Oil on linen 42 x 32 inches
Iconscape 4, 2012 Oil on linen 22 x 30 inches
View of Liberty, 2012 Oil on linen 36 x 48 inches
I always wanted to paint Obama and his family, but now onstage the evening he was reelected, as photographed for the New York Times for its front page that next day. For a show I had on the eve of his first election, I had painted a picture of him in front of the capital, and used it for my poster invite (some conservatives called Derek to take them off his mailing list--forever!), and was so happy he won. For this show--My American Dream-this is the only “appropriated” image in the exhibition, but its so amazing that we now live in the future, and the best president of my life is actually a reality--I used to ask students, when teaching notions of ideology, what the American Dream was--bringing up “can anyone grow up to be president” which of course back in the day didn’t seem true, but now it does...
As a son of a psychoanalyst, I have a penchant for the unconscious, and have tried, since college, to realize iconic images from my subconscious into a more Renaissance plastic space than Gorky, without “Illustrating” dream worlds like Dali. At my thesis show at Brown I hung these “iconscapes” next to figurative works, and again most prominently at my NYC debut show at Jay Gorney in 1997, and again at Derek Eller in 2003-04 for my Hamlet 1999 exhibition. With a show in 2011 (with the good people!) at Knoedler of my 90’s Iconscapes, I was inspired once again to pick up my brush and try again to tap my inner mind to bring it into an outer world.
I had been wanting to paint the Statue of Liberty for some time, I first photographed her to paint last spring when I was on the Staten Island Ferry with students, but the day before Labor Day my husband and I took a boat ride from the Chelsea Pier at twilight, which seemed more meaningful to be with him just before the beginning of the school year and teaching. The challenge was to make a non-cheesy painting of this iconic subject, try to turn around what we already know and make it fresh. There was a storm brewing that evening that never came about, but she seemed to be floating in the sea of clouds, like the country at the time of intense political debates, as we continue to struggle beyond the recession and strife. I wanted to think about what the immigrants would see in her when they first arrived, and thinking about what liberty and freedom mean to me in today’s world. I try to live through my paintings, and I too thought of her a beacon of hope. When the photoshoped image of the storm surrounding Liberty came out at the time of Sandy I also thought my painting felt prescient, but was glad we were able to survive.
4.
5.
6.
Iconscape 5, 2012 Oil on linen 30 x 36 inches
Top of the Rock, 2012 Oil on linen 36 x 48 inches
Sky Over Fairmount, James Dean’s Hometown, 2012 Oil on linen 36 x 48 inches
In micromanaged moments of the old masters, I have found that their imagery breaks apart into abstraction, and strange, subconscious realized eyes and anatomy appear in the negative space. With the modernists, the subject matter is sometimes not as important as what they projected into the subject matter. There are “Cézanne holes” in the middle his works where his head must have been located when he was painting where you can perceive his eyes and teeth and beard, same for Van Gogh who in his cypress tress lurk his unconsciously realized facial features. Picasso (consciously?) appears in his negative spaces, and Matisse form his Santa-like visage appears in figurative elements of his paintings. I want to strip away the map projected on the representational and get to the core.
We lived for a time at the turn of the century on 46 st. above a mob-owned bordello in an apartment where our poodle puppy had died tragically. I would escape to the roof and I would look north and paint the “GE Building,” Rockefeller Center, and the surrounding environment of canyons of powerful buildings, allowing them to fall into abstraction in my bohemian despair. Now over a decade later and feeling much better I actually wanted to go to the “Top of the Rock,” and look back, painting south towards the Empire State Building, which always gives me hope, as does the city at night, which as cheesy at it seems, still gives me a rush of romantic possibility. I wanted to feel that again in painting this picture that hopefully breaks into tiny Broadway Boogie-Woogies in the minutia of windows and trestles.
We made a pilgrimage to Indiana, to see where Dean primarily grew up before he went to New York and later to Hollywood, and felt the sky open up with God’s fingers of light pointing to the way. He has always been an inspiration to me, and many people don’t realize he was gay, or at the very least, Hollywood bisexual... He also wanted to be a great artist, one that was on Mount Olympus with Michelangelo, Picasso, and the rest, and he succeeded. In just three movies he made before he passed at age 24, he was the first to give a popular voice for youth culture, inspired Elvis to be Elvis and John Lennon to be Lennon, helping to begat Rock n’ Roll and Woodstock and changing culture in a great way forever...
7.
8.
9.
Iconscape 3, 2012 Oil on linen 22 x 30 inches
The James Dean Family Farmhouse, 2011-2012 Oil on linen 36 x 48 inches
James Dean Cemetery, 2012 Oil on linen 18 x 28 inches
I hope by hanging the Iconscapes next to the figurative works, they bring out what is abstract in the representational (in this case, the God-like faces in the sky over Fairmount sending their beams of light to James Dean’s Hometown, and what was happening in the snowy earth), and what is representational in the abstract. I have always felt that Marx and Duchamp took us on a necessary, politically speaking, track away from Cezanne, Picasso and Freud, but now, although things are far from perfect, there is room once again to explore notions of the unconscious. Since I was in college I have wanted to be able to channel my subconscious and make it “real”. If oil paint was used at the beginning to make things appear more “real’ in the plastic space of the picture plane, couldn’t oil paint also do this with our unconscious thoughts, dreams and feelings?
When we made our pilgrimage to Fairmount, Indiana the highlight was to see the Marcus Winslow family farmhouse, Dean’s younger cousin, who was more like his little brother as he was raised by his aunt and uncle. Marcus still owns and lives in the house, and keeps it pristine and how it appeared in photos of Dean in front of it in the fifties for the pilgrims like us. It’s like seeing where our pop culture Jesus was born, a living Buddha whose ghost still feels present in this world of his home. In my mind it seems that the tree on the right is pointing to passerby’s the window, the one on the top right, which was Dean’s bedroom.
Next to their family farmhouse, and next to my painting of the house, is the cemetery where Dean and his family are buried. He would escape from his window at night to visit the grave of his mother, who died when he was six. He said he would see and talk with her. I thought I felt his presence when I visited his grave, now buried next to his mothers’, and kissed his grave, too. Like a method actor I try to get into the head of the character I’m portraying while painting, doing all my research, and listening to what they listened to and thinking about what they thought about and my relationship to it, in the hopes that something “real” will come out. Dean loved and carried with him everywhere the book of the Little Prince, and as I listened to the audio book while painting, I realized the prince seemed like the angel to the left, the fox appeared in somehow in a shadow or sculpture on the right, and Dean, the ghostlike Prince spoke to me as I was like the Pilot painting the picture. If you look closely, you can see his face in the flower wrap on the right of the tombstone--all of which seemed to also appear in the photo.
10.
11.
12.
Iconscape 2, 2012 Oil on linen 20 x 16 inches
Iconscape 1, 2012 Oil on linen 20 x 16 inches
View from Empire, 2013 Oil on linen 52 x 70 inches
I think when we dream we dream in iconic, simplified, ghost-like forms we later identify as “Grandpa,” and the like...
I have taught comics for many years, and think the power of the iconic cartoon is not only that it’s simplified so we can relate to it (like Scott McCloud states in the great “Understanding Comics”), but also this is the language of our inner mind and how we perceive ourselves and others in memories, thoughts, and dreams.
I always wanted to make an image of New York City from space, but in lieu of this, I went to the top of a building I painted many times, Empire State, and went to the top level, stood on a podium holding a column as high as I could, and holding my arm stretched took this picture I painted this from. One of secrets of achieving the sublime in painting is micro-managing moments for the macro-managed whole, and I tried here to equate that overwhelming feeling of feeling a being a small part of something big, what it feels like to be a barnacle on the boat of one of he greatest cities in our great country as it floats into the future.
13.
14.
15.
View from our Chelsea Window, 2012 Oil on linen 36 x 26 inches
Large Iconscape, 2012 Oil on linen 30 x 36 inches
American Eagle, 2012 Oil on linen 40 x 30 inches
On July 4th last summer, we layed in bed and watched the fireworks outside our window, which has an American flag as a window dressing. It was scary, as it looked like a war, but profound thinking that war is was what helped to create the foundation of our country. Here it also seemed like a dragon or a UFO, both thrilling and ominous, much like Sandy, which unbeknownst to us was soon to arrive.
When Pollock was creating his drip works, he was dripping automatic psycho-sexual imagery and faces, but then layering over and over in his lattice work so the initial imagery would be obscured. I want to bring up that subconscious and have your mind vacillate like it does a Pollock when, by our instinctive nature, we see to find the faces in the painting. After painting longer and harder, and mostly painting representational works, obsessing with minutia with a tiny brush, I hope that I am now able to render the unconscious with better acuity and skill, bringing out dream worlds and surrealities from the inside of my mind into another dimension.
This is of a plaster statuette perched on the roof of an abandoned Eagles Lodge, next to Mings, Andrew’s favorite American “chop-suey” Chinese restaurant in Huntington Beach, CA. If he and his talons seem fierce, it’s perhaps because I painted him before and through Sandy and its aftermath, holding strong to the solace of the painting, as I created it by candlelight the night the hurricane hit, by windowlight in the day and days that followed. I hope this is like America today: although we have had our struggles recently, hopefully we are holding on, bracing ourselves for the future and remaining strong.
16.
17.
Husbands (Andrew and I), 2012 Oil on linen 36 x 48 inches
My Family, 2013 Oil on linen 56 x 70 inches
This is Andrew and I at our cabin home hideaway, in Lake Elsinore, Riverside CA. This is our fortress of solitude where we escape to when we can and where I want to retire and grow out my beard and paint like Monet in a bathetic Giverny. Perris with an “E” is our mailing address, and we are surrounded by trailers with crystal meth labs and retirees, but we love it and get up every morning to watch the sun rise. This is my “Jewish Bride,” – one of my favorite paintings by Rembrandt, but called “Husbands”, as we married there the first Sunday we could in CA before the window came down. Luckily the country and the world is getting smarter and love prevails—we just celebrated our 21 anniversary together.
Finally there is this picture of my family, installed on the last wall in the gallery, looking towards the painting of me and Andrew--my future for this 4 year old version of myself--and like Bedknobs and Broomsticks, the whole scene of the installation. Like in Pinocchio, who becomes a real boy after discovering his love for others and his family, I created this for my Dad on his 80th Birthday, to celebrate he and my mom’s love for me and my sister in this picture they gave us for Christmas this last year, in a photo taken by Deborah my cousin in the fall of 1970 as we watch a new TV on a stand made from my sisters old dollhouse, all of us happy and loving looking into the future of our lives.
Born May 18, 1966
2003
“Hamlet 1999, Pt. 3,” Derek Eller Gallery, New York, NY
Education B.A., Brown University (Semiotics and Studio Art), 1984-88.5 M.F.A., University of California, Irvine, 1991-1993
2000
“Illuminations,” The Fifth International, New York, NY
1997
“Paintings and Drawings,” Jay Gorney Modern Art, New York, NY
Solo Exhibitions 2013 “My American Dream,” Derek Eller Gallery, New York, NY
1995
“Monty’s Dream: The Sleeper in the Valley,” Richard Telles Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA
2012
“My American Dream,” Solo Booth for Derek Eller Gallery, NADA NYC Art Fair, New York
1994
“The Marriage of Heaven and Hell!” Richard Telles Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA
2011
“Life, Art & Fashion,” Shaheen Modern & Contemporary Art, Cleveland, OH “Iconscapes: 1995-1999,” Knoedler Gallery, New York, NY
1993
“Pinocchio the Big Fag,” Kiki Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2010
“My Modern Life,” Derek Eller Gallery, New York, NY “Good Leaders, Endangered Species,” Broadway Windows, 10th and Broadway (NYU), New York, NY
2009
“Souvenirs,” The Bakery - Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands “Both Sides Now: A Selection of Drawings 1992-2009,” Paul Kasmin Gallery (project room), New York, NY
2008
“Good Leaders, Endangered Species, Ships At Sea, Part II,” Derek Eller Gallery, New York, NY “Good Leaders, Endangered Species, Ships At Sea,” Kim Light / Lightbox, Los Angeles, CA
2007
“Friends & Family,” Shaheen Modern & Contemporary Art, Cleveland, OH
2006
“Kings & Queens,” Derek Eller Gallery, New York, NY “Heroes,” Gallery Alain Noirhomme, Brussels, Belgium
2005
“Rebel Angels at the End of the World,” QED Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2004
“Hamlet 1999,” Derek Eller Gallery, New York, NY
Group Exhibitions 2012 “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” curated by Ilan Cohen with Quan Bao, SecondGuest, New York, NY and Ana Cristea Gallery, New York “All I Want is a Picture of You,” Angles Gallery, Los Angeles, CA “Group Shoe,” curated by Joe Bradley, Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, New York, NY “Its Always Summer on the Inside,” curated by Dan McCarthy, Anton Kern Gallery, New York, NY “B-OUT,” curated by Scott Hug, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, NY “The End,” curated by Michael Buhler-Rose and John Connelly, Vogt Gallery, New York, NY 2011
“Keith Mayerson: Horror Hospital Unplugged, Dominic McGill: Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds,” Derek Eller Gallery, New York, NY “8 Americans” (Organizer. Hilary Berseth, Joe Bradley, Jacob Cassay, Ann Craven, Francesca DiMattio, Wade Guyton, Keith Mayerson, Dana Schutz), September 2011, Maruani & Noirhomme Gallery, Brussels, Belgium “Joni,” Kathleen Cullen Fine Arts, New York, NY “Put Up or Shut Up,” New York Academy of Art, New York, NY
2010
“Ink Plots: The Tradition of the Graphic Novel at SVA,” Visual Arts Gallery, New York, NY “The Pencil Show,” Foxy Production, New York, NY
“Keith Mayerson, Kent Henricksen,” Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn, NY (forthcoming) “Wall to Wall,” Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles, CA “The Boneyard,” Kim Light/Lightbox, Los Angeles, CA 2009
2008
“The Never-Ending Story: Fairy Tales, Fantasy, Obsession,” curated by Laura Hoptman, Royal/T, Culver City, CA “Out of Order,” curated by Scott Hug, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, NY “Naked,” Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York, NY “The Tree,” James Cohan Gallery, Shanghai, China “New Acquisitions,” Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH “Figuratively Seeing,” Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, MA “Peanut Gallery,” curated by Joe Bradley, The Journal Gallery, Brooklyn, NY “THINGS BEHIND THE SUN,” PHIL, Los Angeles, CA “Summer Group Exhibition, “ Derek Eller Gallery, New York, NY “Friends and Family,” Anton Kern Gallery, New York, NY “Kiki: The Proof Is In the Pudding,” Ratio 3, San Francisco, CA “The Guys We Would Fuck,” curated by Nayland Blake, Monya Rowe Gallery, New York, NY “History Keeps Me Awake at Night: A Geneaology of Wojnarowicz,” PPOW Gallery, New York, NY “Artist as Publisher,” The Center For Book Arts, New York “ambivalent figuration; people,” Samson Projects, Boston, MA “a new high in getting low II,” John Connelly Presents, New York, NY
2007
“Genesis I’m Sorry, ”Greene Naftali Gallery, New York, NY “Joe Bradley, Ann Craven, Dana Frankfort, Keith Mayerson,” Zach Feuer Gallery, New York, NY
2006
“Likeness (Portraits from All Angles),” Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA “Summer Group Exhibition,” Derek Eller Gallery, New York, NY “How I Finally Accepted Fate,” curated by Jason Murison, EFA Gallery, New York, NY “This Name of This Show is Not GAY ART NOW,” curated by Jack Pierson, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York, NY
“Salon,” Greene Naftali, New York, NY “Inaugural Group Exhibition,” Derek Eller Gallery, New York, NY 2005
“The Most Splendid Apocalypse,” curated by Jason Murison, PPOW Gallery, New York, NY “This Hard, Gem-Like Flame,” curated by Joseph R. Wolin, Angstrom Gallery, Dallas, TX “On Paper: Drawings from the 1960’s to the Present,” Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2004
“Under the Sun,” Greener Pastures Contemporary Art, Toronto, Ontario “Rimbaud,” curated by Max Henry, I-20, New York, NY “The Sublime is (Still) Now,” curated by Joseph R. Wolin, Elizabeth Dee Gallery, New York, NY “Let the Bullshit Run a Marathon,” curated by Nate Lowman, Nicole Klagsbrun, New York, NY
2003
“K48,” Dietch Projects Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY “Hothouse; Contemporary Floras,” curated by Mary Jo Vath, Gallery of Art & Science, New York, NY “You,” curated by Lisa Kirk, Royal Modern, New York, NY “A New New York Scene--K48 Teenage Rebel: The Bedroom Show,” Gallerie du Jour at Agnes B., Paris, France FIAC art fair, curated by Scott Hug, Paris, France “Magazin (K48: Do Not Provoke Us),” Marres, Maastricht, Holland “Now Playing,” D’Amelio Terras Gallery, New York. NY “Drawings,” Derek Eller Gallery, New York, NY
2002
“Kool Kult,” k48, Scope Art Fair, New York “25th Anniversary Selections Exhibition,” The Drawing Center, New York, NY “Landscape,” Derek Eller Gallery, New York, NY
2001
“Refiguring Painting,” Los Angeles County Museum “Group Exhibition,” American Fine Art at P.H.A.G., New York, NY
2000
“Recent Acquisitions,” Los Angeles County Museum, Los Angeles, CA “Fore and Aft,” Acme., Los Angeles, CA
1999
1998
“The Stroke,” curated by Ross Bleckner, Exit Art, New York, NY “Young New York Painters,” curated by Ross Bleckner, Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, CO “Inaugral Show,” curated by Jennifer Bornstein and Chevis Clem, The Fifth International, New York, NY “he swam down, away,” curated by Tony Payne, Audiello Fine Art, Inc., New York, NY “Painting: Now and Forever,” Pat Hearn and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York, NY “Codex USA: Works on Paper by American Artists,” Entwistle Gallery, London, UK “I Love New York,” Edinburgh International Art Festival, Edinburgh College, Edinburgh, Scotland “Bathroom,” curated by Wayne Koestenbaum, Thomas Healy Gallery, New York, NY “View 3,” curated by Klaus Kertess, Mary Boone Gallery, New York, NY “Francis Alys, Keith Mayerson, Franklin Preston, Hiroshi Sugito,” Audiello Fine Art Inc., New York, NY “More,” curated by Tony Payne, XL Gallery, New York, NY
1997
“Paintings and Sculpture,” Luhring Augustine, New York, NY “Three Painters,” curated by Jack Pierson, Musee d’art contemporain de Bordeaux, France
1996
“The Name of the Place,” curated by Laurie Simmons, Casey Caplin Gallery, New York, NY “Young, Dumb, and Fun,“ curated by David Pagel, University of Las Vegas, Nevada “The Incredible Power of Cheap Sentiment,” curated by Bill Arning, White Columns, New York, NY “Annual Summer Watercolor Exhibition,” curated by Tom Woodruff, P.P.O.W., New York, NY
1995
“Degenerative Art Show,” The Lab, San Francisco, CA “The Moderns,” curated by Tony Payne, Feature Gallery, New York, NY “Faggots,” curated by Bill Arning, Rojes Foundation, University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
“Stretch Out & Wait,” Richard Telles Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA 1994
“Stonewall 25,” curated by Bill Arning, White Columns, New York, NY “Dave’s Not Here Show,” Three Day Weekend, Los Angeles, CA “Red Rover,” Three Day Weekend, Los Angeles, CA “Tiny Shoes,” New Langton Arts, San Francisco, CA “Selections Spring ‘94,” The Drawing Center, New York, NY (brochure) “Playfield,” curated by Randy Summers, Rio Hondo College, Wittier, CA
1993
“Sick Joke,” Kiki Gallery, San Francisco, CA “Steve Crique, Keith Mayerson, Tyler Stallings,” Richard Telles Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA
Bibliography 2012 Penn, Asher, “Keith Mayerson” (Interview), SEX Magazine #2 Kazakina, Katya, “Martha Graham Sets, Older Artists in Westbeth Flooding,” Bloomberg.com, Nov. Russeth, Andrew, “Chelsea Galleries Begin Recovery Work,” Gallerist, NY Observer.com Nov. 1 ”We Went to NADA,” Art Fag City, May 8 Belasco, Daniel, “Suturing In: Anne Frank as Conceptual Model for Visual Art,” Anne Frank Unbound: Media/Imagination/Memory, Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Jeffrey Shandler, eds. Indiana University Press ”Slideshow, Art from NADA 2012,” Blouin Artinfo, May 8 Herman, Sasha, “NADA New York 2012 Preview,” NY Observer.com, April 30 Miller, Michael H., Rozalia Jovanowitz, Andrew Rosseth “Gallerist’s Frieze Week in Pictures,” NYObserver.com, May 7 D’Agostino, Paul, “Big Art Fairs Swarm NYC This Weekend,” The L Magazine “Something for NADA,” Art + Auction, May “Interview with Dan McCarthy” (commissioned catalog interview), “Dan McCarthy,” Suzanne Tarasieve Gallery, Paris 2011
“Portrait of Kevin Kelly,” (commissioned artwork), The Journal, Winter 1999
Bilsborough, Michael, “Unplugged, Rebooted,” School of Visual Arts Continuing Education Blog Kimball, Whitney, “Horror Hospital Unplugged at Derek Eller Gallery”, Art Fag City.com, October 24 Price, Ada, “Pioneering Graphic Novel, “Horror Hospital Unplugged,” Back in Print, Publishers Weekly, October 11 Fitzpatrick, Colin “Horror Hospital Unplugged,” (book review), Lambda Literary.org, August 22 Butler, Blake, “Dennis Cooper & Keith Mayerson’s Horror Hospital Unplugged,” HTML Giant.com, July 28 Litt, Steven, “Keith Mayerson paintings in wonderful exhibit at Cleveland’s Shaheen gallery,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, July 20 Frank, Alex, “Studio Visit: Keith Mayerson,” The FADER.COM, July 7 Frank, Alex, “Dead Again,”, The FADER, June/July, pg. 74 “Keith Mayerson Discusses ‘Iconscapes 1995-1999,” School of Visual Arts Briefs, Summer Hart, Tom, “Why We Love Keith Mayerson,” Seriously Comics, Summer Hartinger, Bruce “Horror Hospital Unplugged,” (book review), AfterElton.com, June 27 “Short List,” The New Yorker, May 16 Wei, Tingting, “Interview with Keith Mayerson,” WhiteHot Magazine, May Wollen, Joseph, “Joni Mitchell,” TimeOut NY, January 28 2010
Smith, Roberta, “Keith Mayerson: My Modern Life,” The New York Times, November 12 Russeth, Andrew “Keith Mayerson, My Modern Life,” ArtInfo.com/ Modern Painters, Nov. 4 “The View Master,” The New York Observer.com, Oct. 26 Finch, Charlie, “Eleventh Avenue Ramble,” Artnet.com Magazine, October 25 Saltz, Jerry, “Ask an Art Critic,” Artnet.com, and NYMagazine, “Vulture,” Oct. 18 Wollen, Joe. “Neo-Integrity: Comics Edition,” Time Out New York, August 10 Le Hay, Benjamin-Emile, “Artists Nate Lowman and Keith Mayerson Take a Long, Hard Look at Humanity,” Black Book Art Review, August 17
Phillips, Brad, “Keith Mayerson,” (interview), Hunter and Cook 06, Summer Saltz, Jerry, “Remembrances of Louise Bourgois’s Salons,” New York Magazine.com, June 3 “Neo-Integrity at MoCCA,” Publisher’s Weekly The Beat, March 31 2009
Sokol, Brett, “36 Hours in Cleveland,” The New York Times, September 20 “Bang for your Buck,” Art + Auction, July-August Heller, Fran, “Art Museum’s New East Wing is a Celebration of Firsts,” Cleveland Jewish News, Friday, July 3 Litt, Steven, “Cleveland Museum of Art Displays New Acquisitions in East Wing,” The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, OH Time Out Amsterdam (image and listing), June Cotter, Holland. “Peanut Gallery,” The New York Times, Art Review, Jan 29
2008
“Keith Mayerson,” The New Yorker, Galleries - Chelsea, November 10 “History Keeps Me Awake At Night,” The New Yorker, Galleries Chelsea, August 4 Cotter, Holland. “History Keeps Me Awake At Night,” The New York Times, July 25 Vogel, Traci. “Time in a Bottle,” San Francisco Weekly, July 9-15, Vol. 27, No. 24 Greenfield, Beth. “Body of Influence.” Time Out New York, Issue 667, Jul 10-16 “How Haute It Is,” Interview, April, p. 130-133 (illus.) Rosenberg, Karen. “A New High in Getting Low,” The New York Times, Mar 7
2007
“Joe Bradley / Ann Craven / Dana Frankfort / Keith Mayerson,” The New Yorker, Galleries - Chelsea, August 20 Cotter, Holland. “When the Curator Is Also an Artist, Go Ahead, Expect Surprises,” The New York Times, August 9
2006
White, Roger, “Keith Mayerson Kings and Queens,” The Brooklyn Rail, Dec 05/Jan 07, Artseen p. 44 Gelber, Eric. “James Reilly and Keith Mayerson,” artcritical.com, December Wolin, Joseph R., “Keith Mayerson,” Time Out New York, Nov 23-
29, p. 99 Gelber, Eric. “Of Groups - and Individuals,” The New York Sun, Nov 16 2005
Knight, Christopher. “Fresh, original voices in L.A.: A deceptive look at a mythic figures,” Los Angeles Times, October 28 Ammirati, Dominic. “Keith Mayerson,” Artforum, February. p. 175
2004
Smith, Roberta. “Keith Mayerson,” The New York Times, December 24 Speers Mears, Emily. “Keith Mayerson,” Artforum.com, December 13 Smith, Roberta. “Rimbaud,” The New York Times, July 30, p. E35 Levin, Kim. “Rimbuad,” The Village Voice, July 28 Johnson, Ken. “The Sublime is (Still) Now,” The New York Times, June 11 Walker, Kelley. “Top Ten,” Artforum, April Cohen, Michael. “Keith Mayerson,” artUS, April - May
2003
Cotter, Holland. “Keith Mayerson,” The New York Times, December 12 Mmirati, Domenick. “Critic’s Pick: You,” Arforum.com, October
2002
Kannenberg Jr., Gene. “Read All (or Some) About It,” X-Tra, Vol. 3, No. 3, Spring The Comics Journal, Issue No.242, April, p. 68-69 “Landscape,” Time Out New York, Reviews, February 21, Issue No. 334 Sehorn, Jason, and Keith Mayerson. “Why I Didn’t Rush the End Zone,” (art project), Interview, February, p. 40
2000
Mayerson, Keith. “Icons and Iconography in Technocratic Culture,” Xtra, Vol 3, p. 23-29
1998
Herbert, Martin. “Codex USA,” (Review), Time Out, London, p. 51 Rimanelli, David. “Painting Now and Forever,” Listings, The New Yorker, June-July Duncan, Michael. “Keith Mayerson at Jay Gorney,” Art in America, Reviews, June, p. 107 Johnson, Ken. “View Three,” The New York Times, Reviews, May 1, p. E43
Drenner, Craig. “View Three,“ NY Arts Magazine, May, p. 29 Mayerson, Keith. “Guest Room With a View,” Paper, May, p. 49 (illus.) James, Merlin. “New York: Recent Painting,” Burlington Magazine, London, February, p. 65-67 Still, Torri. “Filling the Canvas,” Brown Alumni Monthly, January/ February, p. 38-43 1997
Schwendener, Martha. “Keith Mayerson,” Time Out New York, Nov. 20-27, p. 47 Mayerson, Keith. “Self Portrait,” The New Yorker, Nov. 10, p. 28 (illus.) Arning, Bill. “Keith Mayerson,” Bomb, November ”Keith Mayerson,” (Interview), Dangerous Drawings, Juno Books, New York Featured Artist, Honcho, November, p.66-67 Carter, Holland. ““The Name of the Place,” The New York Times, Reviews, Febrary 24 Tom, Karen. “Horror Hospital Unplugged,” Cover, Volume 11, Number 5, p. 59 Hainley, Bruce. “Horror Hospital Unplugged,” Index, May, pg. 79 Marston, Jayson. ““Horror Hospital Unplugged,” Drummer, August, vol. 208, p. 49-50 “Horror Hospital Unplugged,” Library Journal, April 1 “Horror Hospital Unplugged,” Attitude, London, March, p. 22 “Cult Fiction,” Gay Times, London, February, p. 69 “Horror Hospital Unplugged,” Bay Area Gaurdian, Literature Section, February
1996
Knight, Christopher. ”Review,” Los Angeles Times, April 10, Section F, p. 6 Pagel, David. “Keith Mayerson,” Art Issues, September/October, p. 40 Cooper, Dennis, and Keith Mayerson. Horror Hospital Unplugged, Juno Books, NY “PW’s Best Books,” Publisher’s Weekly, November 4, P. 57 “Horror Hospital Unplugged,” Publisher’s Weekly, September 23, p. 71 Rimanelli, David. ‘The Young and the Feckless: Keith Mayerson’s comic rock novel,” OUT, October, p. 66 “A Brilliant Chick Parody,” OUT, August
1995
1994
1993
1990
Greene, David A. “Review,” ART & TEXT, January, p. 71 FRAMEWORK, Volume 7, issue 3, p. 23-26 (illus.) Red Hot + Bothered: The Indie Rock Guide to Dating, Volumes 1 (pp. 11, 21) & Volume 2 (Back Cover) (illustrations), magazine produced by the Red Hot Organization, included with album compilations Michel, Deborah. “The Himbos are Coming! The Himbos are Coming!” BUZZ, April, p. 59 Relyea, Lane. “Openings: Keith Mayerson,” Artforum, April 1994, p. 92 Helfland, Glen. “Sympathy For the Devil,” San Francisco Weekly, April 6, 1994, Vol. XII, no. 6, p. 19 Duncan, Michael. “LA Rising,” Art in America, December, p. 72 Myers, Terry R. “On View: Los Angeles,” New Art Examiner, December, p. 36 Pagel, David. “Art Review: Convention Unites with Gay Fantasy,” Los Angeles Times, October 6, p. F4 Mayerson, Keith. “Family Value Cartoons,” Faultline, May, p. 39-43 Saltz, Jerry, “L.A. Rising,” Art & Auction, April, page 88 Atkins, Robert. “Queer For You,” Village Voice, June 28 Bonnetti, David. “Gallery Watch: Give ‘em that ‘ol tired religion,” San Francisco Examiner, April 15, p. D10 Cotter, Holland. “The Joys of Childhood Reexamined,” The New York Times, March 25, p. C30 Bonnetti, David. “A Queer Way To Look At Pinocchio,” San Francisco Examiner, Friday, November, p. E10 Helfland, Glen. “Art,” San Francisco Weekly, November 17, p. 15 Provenzano, Jim. “Pinocchio Queerified,” Bay Area Reporter, vol. XXIII, November 18, section II
2008
“Jane Freillicher: Recent Paintings,”, Tibor De Nagy Gallery, NY (catalogue essay) “Kathe Burkhart: The Liz Taylor Series: The First 25 Years, 19822007”, Modern Painters, March 2008, (book review) “How Haute It Is,” Interview, April, p. 130-133 (commissioned assignment)
2007
“Annie Lennox,” Interview, Oct. 2007, p. 155 (commissioned assignment)
2006
“Keith Mayerson on Randy Wray,” BOMB, Spring 2006, Number 95, p. 46-47.
2005
Lisa Kirk and Keith Mayerson, “Wake the Sleepers,” ArtUS, MayJune, p. 16-18
2002
Sehorn, Jason, and Keith Mayerson. “Why I Didn’t Rush the End Zone,” (commissioned assignment), Interview, February, p. 40
2000
“Icons & Iconography in Technocratic Culture: The Sleeping Painting,” Xtra, Spring, Vol. 3, Issue 3, p. 23-28.
Artist’s Books 2013 “My American Dream” Exhibition Catalog 2011
NeoIntegrity: Comics Edition Omnibus
1996
Horror Hospital Unplugged, (with Dennis Cooper) JunoBooks/ RESearch Publications, New York, N.Y. (republished 2011 by Harper Perennial)
Snook, Raven. “Cameo’s: K. Mayerson’s “A Child Is Being Beaten,” The Village Voice, August 7, p. 100
Published Articles 2011 “NeoIntegrity: Comics Edition,” (interview with Keith Mayerson, curator, conducted by Peter Halley) 2009
for Popular Song (the White House, Washington DC)” Artforum, December 2009 (best of the year capsule review)
“The Artist’s Artists: Keith Mayerson, Stevie Wonder, Gershin Prize
1993-4 A Patriarchy’s Nightmare 1993
Pinocchio The Big Fag K Trying Not to Be A Dick
Biography
Keith Mayerson has been professionally exhibiting his art in galleries and museums since 1993. His exhibitions are often installations of images that create larger narratives. Each work is imbued with allegorical content that relates to our world, yet allows through its formal nuances for the transcendent and the sublime. The works stand on their own for form and content, but like a prose poem of images on walls, experienced in context the images as a series, the viewer creates the ultimate meaning for the installations. Keith Mayerson was a Semiotics and Studio Art major at Brown University, and received his MFA from University of California, Irvine 1993. 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. He lives and works in New York City. This will be his sixth solo exhibition with the gallery.
Design by Grace Pak www.thegracepak.com Photograpy by Tom Powell www.tompowelimaging.com Derek Eller Gallery 615 W 27th Street New York, NY 10001 www.derekeller.com