19 Jun 2017

Steve Keene: Can't Wait!

Marlborough Contemporary

Reviewed by William Corwin

Steve Keene at Marlborough Contemporary? Yes, and it is awesome. The intrepid painter who usually sells his painted plywood cutouts for under $20, or just gives them away, has set up studio in the viewing room of the pristine white box gallery. His wooden stage, shelves and painting racks have the one-man-band cleverness of St. Jerome's study as depicted by Antonello da Messina.

The artist is present, working in an assembly line style, laying down layer after layer of solid opaque pigment on multiple images like some kind of human litho printer. The raw materials are bagged and stacked at his feet. The finished products lay around the room along the floor and on custom-built viewing displays. A pricing chart urges the customer to "Fear Not." Keene lays bare the life-cycle of his practice. Selling out by showing in Chelsea? No. This is an artist who has painted anywhere and everywhere; this time he just lucked into good air conditioning and a clean bathroom.