Ian McKeever: Lunchtime Talks

These free to attend 10 minute talks provide an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of Ian McKeever’s work. Drop into Gallery 7 to meet the Curator.

Ian McKeever RA (b.1946) is a contemporary British artist. He grew up in Withernsea, East Yorkshire and was inspired early on by the Ferens’ permanent collection, especially Stanley Spencer’s Greenhouse and Garden, 1937, and maritime paintings by Thomas Binks and John Ward.

McKeever’s first solo exhibition took place at the ICA, London in 1973. His early work as a painter grew out of a conceptual interest in landscape, painting and photography in which often a photographic element was juxtaposed with a drawing or overpainted. However, around 1988 his work became more engaged with painting alone. His later works have an emphasis on an abstract language which is concerned primarily with the human body and architectural structures. At the same time the quality of light and its presence in the painting became increasingly important. Often the works are monumental in format. Since 2007 he has reengaged with the photographic element in his work.

McKeever’s work is represented in leading international public collections, including Tate, British Museum, Royal Academy of Arts, London; Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna; Museum of Fine Art, Budapest; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk; Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki; Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and Boston Museum of Fine Art.

Since 1990 the artist has lived and worked in Hartgrove, Dorset.

KWL – Principal sponsor of the Ferens exhibition programme 2018/19