Jonathan Keeton American
Keeton's striking work is a meditation on the natural world; that everything is 'just so'. At night our human influence wanes in the natural realm and the beauty and mystery of things takes over again. Nature is a secret world most of us know nothing about and especially at night.
The mind boggling complexity of Keeton's paintings depend on the extended photographic rambles he makes to the environs that most fascinate him. His photographic documentation allows him to spend a great deal of time in contemplation deciding what will give him the greatest result as paintings. 'En plein air', the technique of painters working directly in nature to capture the forms and light of the landscape does not provide the time needed for Keeton to work out his paintings which might take weeks or months to complete.
Keeton has a special love for the delicate yet difficult and unforgiving nature of watercolor on paper and also works in acrylics on panel. Keeton studied under the Australian artist Geoffrey Dupree in London, and counts the large oil landscapes of Neil Welliver as influential. Joseph Raffael is an inspiration as well.