Inspired by Man Ray, who was reported to have said that he wanted “to make images that could amuse, inspire reflection not arouse admiration for any technical excellence,” Keitner’s current series of photographs on display at Imago presents his red-headed granddaughter Lili clad in a spotless white dress amidst the greasy and rusting vehicles at Jack’s Salvage in Bristol. He calls this exhibit, “Lili in a Garden of Rusting Automobiles.”
Born in Budapest, Hungary, a few months after ... view more »
Inspired by Man Ray, who was reported to have said that he wanted “to make images that could amuse, inspire reflection not arouse admiration for any technical excellence,” Keitner’s current series of photographs on display at Imago presents his red-headed granddaughter Lili clad in a spotless white dress amidst the greasy and rusting vehicles at Jack’s Salvage in Bristol. He calls this exhibit, “Lili in a Garden of Rusting Automobiles.”
Born in Budapest, Hungary, a few months after the end of World War II, Keitner and his family escaped to Montreal as a young boy during the 1956 uprising against the Soviet occupation. After graduating from the Ecole des Beaux Arts with a fine arts degree, Keitner worked as an art director for several national magazines and ad agencies and eventually opened and operated his own graphic design business. He emigrated to the United States in 1990 and set up a photography studio in Providence specializing in black-and-white portraiture. He closed the studio in 2008 and began a more personal exploration of the visual arts.
Keitner taught photography at the Learning Connection for years and has traveled to Cuba many times and exhibited photographs from there and is now an exhibiting artist at Imago where he says, “Whatever I come up with next will be on exhibit.”
He says, “I have no specific media preferences, no interest in repeating any style. I like to discover and immerse myself in what my strange mind comes up with, so I still take photographs, but also create sculptures, mixed media paintings and manipulate my photos on two dimensional surfaces. Right now, I’m making walking canes called Able Canes from felled branches, made from native Barrington boughs.”
A group exhibit featuring artwork by Keitner, guest artists Polly Seip and Chryssa Udvardy and other IFA artists is on display at Imago Gallery, 36 Market Street, Warren, from June 8 – July 16. Regular gallery hours are Thursday 12-3, Friday and Saturday noon to 6 p.m. and Sunday 12 – 4 p.m.
IFA’s mission is to inspire creativity and promote art-making that enriches the community. It does this by offering a supportive community and exhibition space for artists, musicians and writers, providing arts programming for the public and working with other local and regional arts organizations on collaborative projects.
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