Vita
1970 born in Esslingen/Neckar
Since 2013: Curator and operator project room K634, Cologne
Since 2020: Member of the board / KunstWerk e.V.
Andreas Keil lives and works in Cologne
Education
1992-1998: Studies of painting / Staatlichen Akademie der Bildenden Künste Karlsruhe, Prof. Horst Antes und Lois Weinberger
1994 – 98: Scholarship of the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes
2000: Travel Scholarship of the Kunstakademie Karlsruhe / Den Haag / Niederlande
Artist statement
In his work, Andreas Keil deals with the possibilities of contemporary abstract painting, with the relationship of the picture to space and the viewer and the tension between reduction and complexity both within the individual work and in the dialogue between the works. His small-format panel paintings are free of illusionist or metaphorical content, do not represent, but rather exist. They are characterised by the preoccupation with the theme of “painted colour”, such as the minimalist conception of a painting as an embodiment of its own materiality. Due to their small size and painterly density, they are, as it were, colour-space cores towards which the wall surfaces concentrate. The artist’s aim is to bring them into a fragile balance in the exhibition space. This is done by playing with dissonant and consonant colourfulness, reacting to the special conditions on site and the associated setting of the works in the space. Even though he explicitly understands his works as paintings, they have a spatial reference per se through the objecthood of their pictorial carriers.
The wooden finds that Andreas Keil uses for this purpose are found during long walks in his urban surroundings and in nature. These finds are shaped and deformed, show traces of earlier use and are partly fragile. They are always woods that have already been used or altered by humans, often also rather low-value materials such as chipboard or other laminated boards. Before he starts painting, he lets the pieces of wood rest for a long time, firstly to dry them and secondly to decide how to proceed with the carrier. In some cases, Keil changes it by cutting it to size, it may be sanded and primed, in other cases he leaves it in its condition and applies the paint directly to the wood. The picture carrier is not made to disappear when painting, instead it is an important part of the whole, an indispensable player in the aesthetic overall picture and also a source of inspiration for the actual painting process.
In a slow process of creation over many weeks or months, sometimes with many layers of paint on top of each other, sometimes with only individual, targeted colour interventions with longer pauses for reflection and revision, the picture is then created in a permanent dialogue between the layers of paint and the picture carrier – a thinking process using the brush, in which Andreas Keil continually explores the essence of painting anew. Depending on the degree of dilution of the paint, the picture lies while painting or it hangs on the wall. Thick, thin, open and closed layers give the paint space, depth, tension, life and thus the picture a presence. Controlled coincidence in the sense of being open to the unexpected and unplanned in the painting process plays an important role in this.
At the same time, Keil’s works retain an anthropomorphic residue which makes them appear, however subtle, as a counterpart and dialogue partner – pictures which, in a certain way, respond to the gaze of the viewer.
Shows (selected)
2020
“paint vs colour”, Five Walls, Melbourne, Australien (G)
“freshtest 6.0”, Kunstverein Kölnberg, Köln (G)
2019
“Malerei – Zeichnung”, Verein für aktuelle Kunst, Oberhausen (with David Semper)
“Couleur sans titre”, L`H du Siege, Valenciennes, Frankreich (with Michael Toenges and Peter Tollens)
2018
“The Collection”, FokiaNou Artspace, Athen, (G)
“Paintings”, Galerie Carla Reul, Bonn, (S)
“Köln plus -Farbmalereipositionen”, Verein für aktuelle Kunst, Oberhausen, (G)
2017
“Shortcut to Kettwig”, Scheidtsche Hallen, Essen, (G)
“Shaped”, Galerie Schmidt-Schütte, Köln, (with Johannes Trittien)
“COLORSCAPE”, Kunsthaus Troisdorf, Troisdorf, (G)
“Hydrophil”, Galerie Schmidt-Schütte, Köln, (G)
2016
“Condensations”, HerderRaumFürKunst, Köln, (E)
“WestFarbe”, raum2810, Bonn, (G)
2015
“Mittsommer”, Kunstraum K634, Köln, (with Ulrich Wellmann)
“Sammlung Schmitt”, Showroom Schmitt, Karlsruhe, (G)
“Kolor”, Galerie Carla Reul, Bonn, (S)
2013
“Merkwürdiges und Seltsames und Absonderliches und sogar Monströses”, Showroom Schmitt, Karlsruhe, (G)
“Gartenbilder”, Kunstraum K634, Köln, (E)
“Austragungsorte II 1998-2012”, Verein für aktuelle Kunst, Oberhausen, (G)
2012
“Malerei”, Galerie Carla Reul, Bonn, (E)
“Salon d`été”, Mastul, Berlin, (G)
2010
Kunstempore Stade, (E)
2009
„Tafelbilder“, Kabinett im Kunstwerk, Köln, (S)
„Malerei“, Kunstraum Püscheid, Kescheid-Püscheid, (S)
„Quint & Giddens“, Galerie K.U.B., Leipzig, (G)
Curated exhibitions Projektraum K634 Cologne (selection)
2019 Annebarbe Kau “Kleinod”
René Zäch “The Visitor”
2018 Joseph Marioni / Peter Tollens “Two painters – two paintings”
Heike Lessel “und grüne Erde”
2017 Andreas von Ow “Giverny”
2016 Kriz Olbricht / David Semper “KÖSK”
Joseph Hughes “Recent Paintings”
2015 Andreas Keil / Ulrich Wellmann “Midsommer”