Alessandro Keegan (American, b. 1980) is a visual artist, writer and art history professor with an MFA in painting and drawing from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a MA in art history from Brooklyn College. Keegan, who has training as a gemologist, worked at the Gemological Institute of America in New York until 2012, while completing his education. He currently lives and works in the Hudson Valley town of Walden, New York.
His oil paintings and works on paper are windows into psychological realms made of abstracted geometric and organic imagery that are brought to life by unexpected color palettes. Suggestive of futuristic, alchemical laboratories, encounters with unearthly intelligences, and the mysterious physics of another dimension, this imagery is inspired by the artist’s visionary experiences as well as his philosophical speculations on art, science and mysticism.
Solo shows include, AftertheRain, Waterhouse and Dodd, New York, NY (2023).
Group show include, Art Macao: Macao International Art Biennale 2023”, Macao Museum of Art, Macau, China.(2023); Art Palm Beach, Waterhouse and Dodd, West Palm Beach (2023); Splendor of the Sun, Galerie du Monde, Hong Kong (2022); Art Miami, Waterhouse and Dodd, Miami, FL (2022); Creative Spirits, The College of Psychic Studies, London, UK (2022); Beam Me Up, 5-50 Gallery, Queens, NY (2022); Summer Group Show, Waterhouse and Dodd, New York, NY (2022); A Window Scrubbed for the Moon, Asya Geisberg Gallery, New York, NY (2022); Alpha 60, Cyberarts Gallery, Boston, MA (2022); Vanguards, Unit London, London, UK (2022); Cabinet of the Solar Plexus: The Liminal and the Marvelous, Gallery X, Dublin, Ireland (2022); That Wilderness Inside, Prior Art Space, Barcelona, Spain (2022); Matches Struck Unexpectedly in the Dark, Oneroom Gallery, London, UK (2022); Vigils/ Low Tides, Historic Hudson Opera House, Hudson, NY (2021).
Highlights and Collections
Keegan’s art can be found in the permanent collection of the College of Psychic Studies, in London, alongside historical artists of the occult.
Writings about his work have appeared in Artsy, ArtMaze Magazine, Artforum, Cultured Magazine, Elephant Magazine, Masthead Magazine, Helvete, J’ai Froid and the 2023 book “New Surrealism: The Uncanny in Contemporary Painting” published by Phaidon International.
Keegan’s art practice and ideas are the subject of a short documentary film called “The Matter of Mind”, released in 2020 by Full Moon Films.
Keegan is also a writer and will have a forthcoming essay in "Enchanted Pedagogies: Archetypes, Magic, and Knowledge", an anthology edited by Kari Adelaide Razdow, published by Brill.