Describing his work as storytelling, Keith uses art to ask questions about our society. Exploring themes of narcissism, greed and civil unrest, his paintings intertwine raw emotion with a hunger to understand the world around us.
The artist has no formal training and instead relies on his instincts. His ideas begin with hand-drawn scribbles before they are developed as a storyboard. Once he is happy with the composition, Keith paints using layer upon layer of graphite, acrylic, oil and soft pastel.
Recent influences include fictional soldiers and police from the Star Wars films, and the changing roles of women in society. He often includes political symbols such as the British flag to incite conversation.
Keith says: “I am not after perfection, I paint from the heart and strive for emotion and feeling in my work. It’s not just about putting paint on a canvas – I want people to feel the painting, whatever the subject may be.”
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Keith's first step is to form ideas using hand-drawn scribbles, before progressing to slightly more detailed sketches. With a rough idea in his head or on paper, he develops it as a storyboard, similarly to a cartoonist. Once the story works with the sketch, he starts to paint.
The piece is created in white acrylic paint with a brush and palette knives. After this has dried, he adds up to eight layers of graphite and acrylic before finally adding oil and soft pastel.
He adds: "A lot of my work is storytelling. It sometimes takes longer to create the story of a painting than to paint the piece itself. It’s a difficult process that takes time, research and endless scribbles and sketches to bring everything together."
The Spring 2019 issue of Fine Art Collector is brimming with insights and news from the art world, as well as all of your favourite artists.
Keith Maiden's new dark and edgy collection Daemons is inspired by the connection between animals and humans.
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