Keelan McMorrow

Chicago, Illinois

My current work centers on what is probably an almost obsessive preoccupation with death, though my conclusions are usually triumphant, or at least conciliatory: After losing my brother unexpectedly on my birthday in 2016, I’ve been desperate and determined to deal with these fears head on, and maybe even make peace with them. I paint using largely traditional methods, but in experimental frameworks; human figures, or pieces thereof, work collectively with space — itself the unknown — together forming visions, symbols, and hieroglyphics for speaking with the dead, as well as with the living (that’s us… at least so far). Oddly enough, this personal obsession has been hugely therapeutic, and if we’re being honest, I’m merely playing part in a universal human practice, one with very ancient, deep, and varied occurrences. That the dead can’t be ignored is reason enough for allowing them to speak, and listening to what they have to say can offer us reminders as to how precious our lives, loves, artistic pursuits and hopes and dreams, truly are.

The Hungry Mouth

2021, acrylic on board, 20” x 14”

An Caoineadh (Mourning Dove)

2021, acrylic on board, 20” x 15”