Among the highlights in the Illawarra art community in 2017 will be the inaugural exhibition of 20 major portraits Donald Keys has been working on the last two years.
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Keys is known for both his landscapes and portraits and his latest series of major work is a unique look at the artists who inspire him.
He is now nearing the completion of a project that is very different to what he has done before.
“Art Heads” is a non-commercial series chronicling the present crop of artists whose work he admires. He wants to exhibition to stay together like a time capsule and none of the paintings will be for sale. All 20 portraits in the finished project will be in a showcase exhibition that will be first showed at Nowra in Autumn.
Artists he has painted include Sally Ryan, Carlos Barrios, Christine Webb, Paul Miller, Fan Dongwang, Vince Vozzo, Edmond Thommen, Mia Oatley, Anita Larkin, Auguste Blackman, Justin Pearson and Mertin Gokalp who was doing a painting of Keys when when he decided to paint him at the same time. That is how Art Heads began.
Keys own journey into the art world began in similar fashion. He was was born in Bulli and grew up near Sandon Point.
In an interview for Relativity’s digital television program In The Loop he spoke of how he spent plenty of time near the ocean as a child and was inspired by the sea.
“That is why many of my paintings feature the ocean. It is very familiar to me’” he said.
But drawing a cat during an art class in primary school was what made Keys realise how great it is to express things the way you want with art. He has enjoyed a career as a commercial artist but his portrait series is non-commercial. It is inspirational to him because it focuses on artists that all mean something to him.
“I’m learning a lot of the moment..doing a series on artists and incorporating how they paint behind them,” he said.
“It is called Art Heads and it is going to be at the Shoalhaven Regional Gallery in May 2017. It is a way to educate yourself by going out and talking to actual big name artists, then painting them and putting their work behind them. So you actually have to learn how they paint as well. Or at least do an interpretation of their style. There are so many artists in Australia producing incredible work. And I focused on them because they inspire me.”
Keys said he had painted portraits a long time and has one on his wall he painted in 1975 of Humphrey Bogart. “But primarily I am a landscape artist. I like looking at local scenery. I like to identify the scene and I like to put people in it because I find people very interesting.”