Josh Keyes

THe Soul Reactor

Inspired by 18th and 19th-century aesthetics and philosophy, Josh Keyes paints animals in a style reminiscent of anatomical diagrams.

Josh Keyes was born in 1969 in Tacoma / Washington and currently lives in Portland. He received his BFA in 1992 from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MFA in 1998 from Yale University School of Art.

Inspired by 18th and 19th-century aesthetics and philosophy, Josh Keyes paints animals in a style reminiscent of anatomical diagrams. His work is characterized by an attention to detail and to physiological accuracy. Keyes, however, does not place his animal subjects in their natural settings; rather, they are often in peril, displaced from their natural ecosystems into dioramic fantastical situations. These landscapes are frequently isolated and contain an incompatible mix of the natural and manmade. Keyes acknowledges that themes of migration and displacement frequently feature into his work as a form of his preoccupation with global climate change and the human impact on nature.

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