Keith Young

Keith Young lives in Kansas City, Missouri. He began his studies at State Fair Community College in Sedalia, Mo. then transferred to the Kansas City Art Institute. He grew up in a creative family nourished by free thought and conversation, it was the loving matriarch of his family who realized and encouraged his artistic talent.

Young's canvases use an array of mixed media to rearrange the world as it is presented to him; he crosses boundaries of materials, genres, subject matter, and themes to discover life through an ever-expanding collection of images and techniques; collage, drawing, over-painting, applique, and embellishments. Found objects, linoleum fragments, magazine pictures, lace, wallpaper, spray paint, all become part of Keith's vocabulary of painting. The paintings bridge the logical to the illogical by creating a natural synergy with the incongruous or disparate elements that find their way into his work.  By critically analyzing materials and being somewhat of a material atheist, Keith has been able to define his aesthetic as an artist at a young age; frequently experimenting with techniques and objects that maintain the integrity of his aesthetic within his work. Keith's paintings have given him a voice in his own life. His work doesn't talk about worldly issues; but rather, solves personal struggle ultimately illustrating the phrase, the personal is political. Keith Young is colorblind, but this is not a disadvantage for him; His inability to distinguish certain colors allows him to create works with unique palettes that are among the components that make his work so compelling to viewers.