History for Sale

Here are some less than stellar photos of Stephen Keene at Moore College of Art and Design in the Fall of 1995ish. While waiting for Rachel to get done class and being double parked outside of her school, I watched the guest artist from my car as he painted dozens of pictures all at once. The wood slats were all lined up and he went down the line painting the same smudge or swerve or swish on each piece. I know a lot of people think of this as conveyor belt art, and that it's not real, that it lacks true emotion, but I don't think so. I think it's refreshing that there exists an artist with one idea that he can translate onto many pieces and make it possible for the unwashed masses, such as myself, to own an original Steve Keene painting. Do you know how many Julian Schnabel paintings I own? Yeah, a big fat zero, because I will never, ever make enough money to possess anything he created.

At the time when I took these photos I was obsessed with art and wishing so desperately that I could be an artist, a painter like Jean-Michel Basquiat or Francesco Clemente or Enzo Cucchi. Twenty years later and I'm not an artist, but I do have six Steve Keene paintings hanging in my home to inspire me to be more creative in every aspect of my life. And I don't care that thirty other people have the same thing in their home, because when I look at his Wuthering Heights painting from 2009, I feel like I am the sole possessor of this one-of-a-kind painting. And it only cost me a dollar fifty. That wouldn't even get me some of Schnabel's toenail clippings. Or would it...hmm...anyone know his manicurist? Too far? Oh well...anything for a laugh...