Philipp Keel

• Last Summer, Steidl 2021 • Apalazzo Gazzetta, Apalazzogallery 2018 • Splash, Steidl 2015 • State of Mind, Nieves 2014 • Keel´s Simple Diary, volume two, Taschen 2011 • Keel´s Simple Diary, volume one, Taschen 2009 • AISA – Images from an Imaginary Continent, Edition Judin 2005 • Color, Steidl 2003 • All About Us, Broadway Books 2000 • Look at Me, Edition Stemmle / Abrams Books 1999 • All About Me, Broadway Books 1998

• Illustration — "Bird Series No. 3: Two Young Birds Not Knowing Any Better" By Philipp Keel • Illustration — "All About Us" by Philipp Keel • Illustration — Keel's Simple Diary (Volume One was published in six colors) Philipp Keel's artistic oeuvre includes photographs, drawings, watercolors, oil paintings and silkscreen prints. His art is shown in numerous international exhibitions and is represented in leading collections. As a photographic artist, he is an intuitive conqueror of the moment. "Leaves floating on water cast shadows, white women's legs dive into a pool, the heat of the Sierra Nevada flickers outside a car window, a luminous Ferris wheel vibrates." All the images are united by an eye for special details and moods. Keel alters reality through alienation or reduction. He captures the magical in the everyday and seeks the world behind the world. "My photography should be honest and direct like a dream, that is my claim." "Signals and signs that mean something are there every day. I take great pleasure in linking the things I see and experience and putting them together anew, like a puzzle that makes sense only to me." While a photograph can be created quickly, Keel's image processing in the lab often takes many months. Working with Don Weinstein, one of the most renowned photo printers in the US, and with Epson, Keel developed what he calls the ›Imbue Print‹ over a period of years. His artistic work is inspired by David Hockney, Saul Steinberg, Henri Matisse, Tomi Ungerer, Irving Penn, Richard Alvedon and Saul Leiter. The art of his mother Anna Keel, who was a painter and draughtswoman, also had a strong influence on him. "I hang unfinished works on the wall and mark the places that still need work. Then I let time pass. It's never wrong to take a moment to think about what you're doing." Of his watercolour work, Keel said. "What counts here is the pace (...). Watercolours demand discipline, detachment and precision. With oil painting there is turpentine, with photography the next print, but with watercolour there is only the moment." Keel often works serially and usually deals with certain motifs and themes over several years. In doing so, the different forms of expression in his art often inspire each other. "You can't become an artist any more than you can become musical," Keel says. An old-fashioned adage guides him: practice makes perfect. He himself laments his lack of patience, calling this lack the "muse of my madness." Keel believes that there is too much of everything. "The weariness of the virtual world, which ruins everything, leads to a new longing for the classical. Making limited use of the endless possibilities is the great challenge." "What fascinates me even more than illusion, mystery, philosophy and inspiration is the passion that drives us to do exactly what we do best."