Pavement! / The New Yorker / Final Painting Weekend / Chickfactor Mixer / Music Events

It's the final stretch for The Steve Keene Art Book Launch Retrospective & Art Sale which runs through Oct 14. Plenty of reasons to come by the gallery. Come buying some inexpensive art and get your book signed!

• Did you see The New Yorker piece by Amanda Petrusich?

• This is the final weekend to see Steve Keene paint in-person at the gallery!

• Together with SK book editor Gail O'Hara's Chickfactor, which is celebrating its' 30 year anniversary with shows this week, we have just added a mixer at the gallery on Friday, October 7. It will include a performance by British folk legend BRIDGET ST JOHN(!). Full music schedule below.

• This past weekend Pavement's Mark, Bob, Steve and Rebecca came by Chashama to visit SK and buy some art. It was great that they were able to visit (photo below).
  

• If you have the means, have enjoyed what I've put together to celebrate SK's work, please help me with the deficits of running the retrospective and making the book via this GoFundMe. Thank you!

First-Ever 30-Yr BK/NYC Retrospective Celebrates Book Launch & Feat. Collections From Across The US

Buy the Steve Keene Art Book here. See an electronic press kit here. For Immediate Release: Aug 15, 2022

First-Ever 30-Year BK/NYC Retrospective Celebrates

Book Launch & Features Collections From Across The US

#SKartShowNYC At ChaShaMa Brooklyn Heights

September 13 - October 14

Opening Party Thursday, Sept 22

Show to Include Experiential Painting Hours & Many Pieces Included In The Steve Keene Art Book

“Steve Keene is a legend.” - LA Weekly

“…monumentally prolific…” - Variety

“A ’90s icon of contemporary art in his own right, Keene’s work remains revered

well into the 21st century.” - Consequence

"[‘The Steve Keene Art Book’]...a sprawling and lovingly arranged collection of high-resolution photos of

Keene’s decidedly low-res art." - Pitchfork

From September 13 - October 14, Steve Keene will debut his first-ever NYC 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 September 22 from 5pm - 8pm at ChasHama’s Brooklyn Heights gallery located at One Brooklyn Bridge, 360 Furman Street, Brooklyn, 11201. The show will include a full room of Hand Painted Multiples, Album Art Tributes, an oversized mural and a debut of some Tattooed Plywood ? Engraved works. Most of the show is making its public debut.

“...a churning waterfall of creation.” - Stephen Malkmus, Pavement

The 30-Year Retrospective will include artworks from the personal collections of 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). A large Elephant 6 Recording Co themed mural owned by The Apples’ Allen, will be shown for only the second time. Additionally, New York locals have been invited to submit their Steve Keene collections online in return for the possibility of being included.

Keene’s second NYC show of 2022, the first took place at Leo Fitzpatrick’s Public Access gallery on the Lower East Side. Prior to the NYC Retrospective, Los Angeles hosted the 30-Year Retrospective. Keene’s return to Los Angeles was an homage to 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, Keene sold more than 500 pieces on opening night with lines stretching out the door and around the Echo Park block.

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. On Chashama:

Chashama helps create a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive world by partnering with property owners to transform unused real estate into small businesses, artist workspace, presentation space. and space for free art classes. Chashama believes in the rights of all artists to develop their practice and participate in New York City’s arts ecosystem, regardless of race, age, gender, sexual orientation, or immigration status, and remains committed to supporting diversity in the arts.

Follow Steve Keene: Instagram | Website

Follow Tractor Beam: Twitter | Instagram | Website Follow Hat & Beard: Instagram | Website

Steve Keene’s 30-Year Los Angeles Retrospective Celebrates A Book Launch #SKartShowLA

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.

Follow Steve Keene: Instagram | Website

Follow Tractor Beam: Twitter | Instagram | Website Follow Hat & Beard: Instagram | Website

For more information:

David Elkin, david@girlieaction.com

Rosie Boyd, rosie@girlieaction.com