The Steve Keene Art Book

Efram, a music and media producer and photographer who has developed live projects, documentary films and television for stage and screen, began working with Keene back in the ’90s after seeing his work at NYC legendary downtown performance space, Threadwaxing Space. He curated Steve Keene’s Brooklyn Experience at the Brooklyn Public Library when Keene was artist-in-residence in 2014.

Efram started photographing Keene’s art for the Subliminal Projects show in 2016, and continued cataloging works for the book, including paintings from dozens of personal collections. The book includes long-form essays and insight into Keene’s life, space and process. The Steve Keene Art Book collects commentary, essays and quotes from rock stars like Chan Marshall (Cat Power), Will Oldham, and members of Superchunk, insight and anecdotes from artists Ryan McGinness and Shephard Fairey, as well as personal stories from journalists, collectors, art-world insiders and devoted fans around the world. Nearly the same size as the LP that Keene worships, it is a love letter to the most prolific American artist of all time from his adoring public.

Steve Keene's Artwork has appeared on the sleeves of Pavement, The Silver Jews and Bonnie Prince Billy. He has produced over 300,000 paintings in his cheery automated style selling them for every man prices of $5 to $10 dollars each. Though perhaps best-known for his deep ties to the 90s indie rock scene, Keene has chosen to immortalize some of the greatest names in rock/pop music including David Bowie, The Beach Boys, Johnny Cash, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Roxy Music, The Clash, Patti Smith, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and The Beastie Boys. But the heart of his work will always belong to indie rock artists like Pavement, Bonnie Prince Billy, The Arcade Fire, Minor Threat, Husker Du, and Joy Division. The book features essays by musician Hilarie Bratset (The Apples in stereo), writer Sam Brumbaugh, Elle Chang, Efram, Shepard Fairey, journalist Karen Loew, McGinness and Christina Zafiris, along with comments from Starling Keene, curators Jonathan LeVine, Leo Fitzgerald and Talia Logan, alongside a dazzling 277 photographs of Keene’s works. Efram takes readers into Keene’s utilitarian chain-link “painting cage” for an all-access pass for a peek into the artist’s fascinating systemic technique.