One of my favorite contemporary artists, Josh Keyes, just opened a show in Seattle last week. The name of the show is ‘Circus and the Sea.’ His paintings incorporate realistic looking images of wildlife, with surrealist environments.  Here is how the press release describes his style:

Keyes’ style is reminiscent of the diagrammatic vocabulary found in scientific textbook illustrations that often express, through a detached and clinical viewpoint, an empirical representation of the natural world. Assembled into this virtual stage set are references to contemporary events along with images and themes from his personal mythology. Josh Keyes’ work is a hybrid of eco-surrealism and dystopian folktales that express a concern for our time and the Earth’s future.

If I was in Seattle I would definitely check it out.

Josh Keyes
The Circus and The Sea
November 9 – December 1 2012
Roq La Rue Gallery
Seattle, Washington

Here is one of my favorite pieces by Keyes that he painted and sold prints of to raise money for the gulf oil spill (not a part of his current show). I mean, sharks and fire? Not sure how that could be topped–

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