Gallery: A NASA Engineer Turned Artist Whose Canvas Is a Huge Fish Tank
Photos by Kim Keever01kim-kever-07
Artist Kim Keever is like a hydroponic Jackson Pollock and makes art by dripping house paint into a 200-gallon fishtank.
Photos by Kim Keever02kim-kever-08
In the moments where the colors whirl and eddy, Keever shoots thousands of photos, of which he'll choose one or two, before embarking on the five hour processes of emptying, cleaning, and refilling the tank so he can start anew.
Photos by Kim Keever03kim-kever-04
In his six-foot long tank, Sears Easy Living paint swirls, blooms, and is transformed from humble wall covering into glorious clouds of color.
Photos by Kim Keever04kim-kever-13
The artist is reticent to share the secrets of his process, but says that after the paints are added to the tank, he has anywhere from five to twenty minutes before the liquids diffuse leaving 200-gallons of murky brown water in their wake.
Photos by Kim Keever05kim-kever-11
His latest work is stripped of all imagery and is focused purely on dispersion and diffusion of liquids and the interplay of color and light.
Photos by Kim Keever06kim-kever-12
He began his art career in the New York City of the 1970s, surrounded by the glamour of Warhol's Studio, the emerging art of subway graffiti, and the novel sounds of Grandmaster Flash and disco.
Photos by Kim Keever07kim-kever-05
A friend gave him his first fish tank and Keever began building elaborate tableaus composed of model train props that were submerged in water and meticulously lit to create a hyperrealistic landscapes.
Photos by Kim Keever08kim-kever-02
Keever used forced perspective, lighting tricks, and the optical properties of water to create photographs that looked like they were taken outdoors.
09keever-classic-02
Over time, his work began to take on a more minimal, conceptual, and expressionistic feel as he submerged plaster objects in the tank and tracked their decomposition with photographs.
10keever-classic-03
Keever employs unorthodox methods, but is aesthetically guided more by the principles that drove Botticelli rather than anything on display at the Whitney Biennial.
11keever-classic-04
"I have always aimed for a certain amount of beauty in my art," says Keever. "A good deal of modern art is anti-beauty.
12keever-classic-05
A show of Keever's latest works will be on view at the [WaterhouseDodd Gallery](http://www.waterhousedodd.com/kim-keever) in New York City Starting April 2.
