Artist website, featuring paintings, photographs and digital work by British artist Richard Keys.
Having originally trained as a sculptor I see how surface and sculptural qualities persist in my paintings and drawings, and how these two dimensional works are ‘objects’ as well as illusory representations of places and people.
I am motivated by a lifelong fascination with the mysterious business of perception. I am currently drawn to the research of cognitive neuroscientist Anil Seth and his suggestion that when we perceive reality, given the nature of our sensory faculties, we are essentially filling in blanks in order to make sense of it.
“The brain doesn't hear sound or see light. What we perceive is its best guess of what's out there in the world.”
Anil Seth https://thecitesite.com/authors/anil-seth/. (n.d.). Https://Thecitesite.Com/Authors/Anil-Seth/. Retrieved October 28, 2020, from https://thecitesite.com/authors/anil-seth/
These artworks are evidence of trying to make sense of my lived experience of places and people; they are my ‘best guesses’. Having led a peripatetic life in international education they are also part of a process of locating myself in new contexts, they are part of a process of becoming familiar with new experiences.
I am drawn to art that holds the viewer hovering between the acceptance of the rendered image and awareness of the surface it is made on. That point of ambiguity between the recognized image and the surface it works against and with, is exciting; it makes it possible to have a heightened awareness of ones’ mind working to perceive. I find this to be joyful. Whilst making the work I am striving to find this point of balance between surface and image and when showing the work, hope that the experience is shared by the viewer.
Opening event: https://www.chiangmaicitylife.com/citynow/social-life/live-events/opening-of-best-guesses-at-lido-art-space/
Recent Work
 40 x 80 cm Oil and collage on canvas |  60 x 60 cm Oil and collage on canvas |  Watercolour 10 x 20 cm |
|---|---|---|
 50 x 50 cm Oil on canvas |  Digital Collage |  40 x 40 cm Oil on canvas |
 30 x 35 cm Oil and collage on canvas |  Oil and collage on canvas 80 x 60 cm |  10 x 20 cm watercolour and collage on paper |
 10 x 20 cm watercolour and collage on paper |  80 x 80 cm Oil and collage on canvas |  80 x 80 cm Oil on canvas |
 Digital image |  Digital image |  60 x 80 cm Oil on canvas |
 60 x 80 cm Oil and collage on canvas |
Portraits
 40 x 40 cm oil and collage on canvas |  25 x 40 cm Oil on found wood |  30 x 30 cm Oil on collaged canvas |
|---|---|---|
 30 x 37 cm oil on concrete covered tile |  40 x 48 cm oil on prepared cardboard |  30 x 30 cm oil and collage on canvas |
 5 x 7 cm digital photograph of repeated process putting wet media on inkjet print outs |  5 x 7 cm digital photograph of repeated process putting wet media on inkjet print outs |  10 x 15 cm watercolour on found wood Private collection UK |
 30 x 30 cm collage and oil on canvas |  28 x 36 cm collage and oil on cardboard |  25 x 35 cm collage and oil on cardboard 2020 |
 45 x60 cm pencil on card |  30 x 30 cm collage and oil on cardboard 2019 |  25 x 25 cm collage and oil on cardboard 2020 |
 40 x 30 cm Collage and oil on canvas 2020 |  30 x 30 cm Oil on cardboard 2019 |  28 x 30 cm oil , mixed media on cardboard 2020 |
 60 x 80 cm oil paint, mixed media 2020 |  40 x 60 cm acrylic, mixed media on canvas 2020 |  40 x 60 acrylic, acrylic and mixed media on canvas 2020 |
 A2 pencil, pen and tea on paper 2017 |  80x60 acrylic and oil on canvas |  25 x 35 cm acrylic on cardboard 2015 Private collection Iceland |
Wood for the Trees
 |  |  60 x 80 cm mixed media on canvas 2020 |
|---|---|---|
 Mixed media on canvas 2019 |  digital photograph |  digital photograph |
 80 x 60 cm acrylic on canvas 2014 Private collection Switzerland |  80 x 100 cm mixed media on canvas 2019 |  |
 60 x 80 cm acrylic on canvas 2015 Private collection Switzerland |  digital photograph |  digital photograph |
 digital collage |  digital photograph |  Digital collage |
 20 x 20 cm acrylic on paper 2013 |  10 x 10 cm watercolour |  Mixed media |
 Bleach and ink |  Bleach and ink |  Bleach and ink |
 Bleach and ink |  Bleach and ink |
Places and Landscapes
 Mixed media on paper 60 x 80 cm |  Mixed media on paper 25 x 80 cm |  Mixed media on paper 60 x 80 cm |
|---|---|---|
 Mixed media on card 60 x 60 cm |  60 x 80 cm mixed media on canvas |  |
 60 x 80 cm mixed media on canvas 2019 Not available: sold |  60 x 80 cm mixed media on canvas 2019 |  digital photograph |
 digital photograph |  80 x 100 cm Mixed media on canvas 2018 Not available: sold |  70 x 50 cm Mixed media on canvas 2018 Private collection Croatia |
 digital photograph |  digital photographs |  digital photograph |
 80 x 100 cm Acrylic on canvas |  40 x 60 cm |  5 cm x 8 cm collage and watercolour |
 7 cm x 7 cm watercolour on paper |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  80 x 80 cm acrylic and mixed media on canvas 2018 |
 |  |  |
 |  |  80 x 100 cm acrylic on canvas Private collection Switzerland |
 60 x 80 cm acrylic on canvas |  Private collection Switzerland |  |
 Private collection Switzerland |  Private collection Jordan |  |
 |  Private collection Canada |  |
 |  Private collection Singapore |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |