Mark Keffer

Artist Statement

My paintings are an effort to reflect a state of uncertainty, one that is the natural product of the times in which we live, but also, one produced by the cognitive processes of perception and memory. These aspects of the mind are fragmentary and subjective and inspire the spatial ambiguity and other formal disruptions in my work. Attractive colors and patterns create semi-ironic moments of optimism in the midst of existential voids.

There are often references to circuitry, which are used primarily to symbolize information to which we have no access. I see ultimate truths as unknowable and hope to mirror our state of not knowing. Religious/occult iconography has entered the work as symbols of diverse human efforts to define and illuminate. I embrace open-endedness and a degree of absurdity in my work, as they echo the world around me.

No Us, the title of the current series, is an effort to facilitate a look inward. I've always been interested in the idea of the 'soul' and what is meant by the 'self'. I have long felt that these are not tangible aspects of human make-up. Contemporary thinkers, such as neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky, seem to confirm that the self and notions of free will are illusory. These findings are extremely consequential and relevant to what I do. Ultimately, I try to make work that questions the nature of reality, both internal and external. I want to make work that functions at, or beyond, the limits of my own understanding.

Biography

Mark Keffer was born in 1965 in Cleveland, OH. He studied graphic design at the University of Akron, before transferring to Kent State to study painting, where he received a BFA, with honors. He went on to receive an MFA from Ohio State University in 1991. He has taught at Ohio State, Kent State and Youngstown State Universities. He moved to NYC in 1996, where he lived, worked, and exhibited until 2005. He completed artist residencies at The Millay Colony, in upstate NY; The Ucross Foundation in Wyoming; and The Vermont Studio Center. His work has been shown nationally on many occasions and several times internationally. He has had seventeen solo exhibitions to date and has been covered in Esopus Magazine, Flashart Magazine, and ArtFile Magazine, among others. Collections include The Allen Memorial Art Museum in Oberlin, OH; The Progressive Collection, Cleveland; and Equitable Life, NYC. He has received numerous exhibition awards and is the recipient of an Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship. In 2023, Keffer was given a solo show at the McDonough Museum of Art in Youngstown, OH and received an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award.

No Us 48 (yes, positive)_2022_acrylic on paper_20 x 16"
No Us 44 (veils)_2021_acrylic on paper_20 x 16"
No Us 67 (there is no me)_2023_acrylic on paper_20 x 16"