Vita
Life
Peter Robert Keil was born to an artist blacksmith father whom he lost very early in his childhood during the Second World War. During the end phase of the war, Keil’s mother, also an artistically talented woman, took her son and struggled her way to West Berlin where they settled. This is where Peter Robert Keil grew up in the working-class neighbourhood of Berlin-Wedding and where he discovered his interest in painting – particularly in expressionistic artists and in Pablo Picasso's work. From 1954 on, the East Berlin-based painter Otto Nagel became his mentor and taught him first craft skills and painting techniques. In 1954, he began his traineeship as an artist metalworker and between 1959 and 1961, he studied at the University of Arts in Berlin. When the Berlin Wall was built, he lost contact with his mentor Otto Nagel and from the early 60s on, Keil started to spend more and more time abroad. During his studies at the University of Arts in Berlin, he came in contact with numerous other artists who later became influential artists of their generation, like for example Georg Baselitz, Eugen Schönebeck, Markus Lüpertz and Joachim Schmettau. During his time in Mallorca, he also met with Joan Miró in his studio several times. From the early 60s on, Keil established studios in Paris, London, Berlin and in the US. Today he mainly lives and works in Zimmerau (Bavaria, Germany), Berlin and Los Angeles.
Techniques and works
In the beginnings of his artistic career, Peter Keil’s style was influenced by German expressionism. In the works from his early Berlin years, he mainly focused on typical big city settings and characters on the fringes of society. However, his style changed visibly at the beginning of the 60s when he lived in Paris for a while and emerged in the city’s nightlife. Keil increasingly parted with his realistic approach and developed a new, much more spontaneous and dynamic painting style which he developed further during his years in London and finally during his time as one of the “Berliner Neue Wilden” at the beginning of the 80s. Since then, the use of intensive to lurid colours and the absence of realistic representation have become characteristic of his painting style. In his paintings, the colour is applied with quick brushstrokes and occasionally with impasto techniques and the images are additionally abstracted by the use of Graffiti elements. Keil prefers to paint human figures, portraits, big city scenes, landscapes and still life images of flowers. His emotional way of painting is mainly driven by a desire for freedom from social constraints and conventions. In the past 50 years, he has created numerous large- and small scale paintings in oil and mixed media on canvas but also some sculptures in wood and steel and a great number of Majolicas.
(source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Robert_Keil)
Exhibitions
2013–14 „Farb & Rausch Space Berlin“, (Color & Enthusiasm Space Berlin), Temporary Gallery, Berlin
2013 „Aufbruch - Jüngste Werke aus der Heidelberger Phase“ (Departure - Latest Works from the Period of Heidelberg), Alte Feuerwache (Old Fire Station) Heidelberg
2012 ”Teufelswerk“ (Devil’s Work), with Residency at State Majolica Manufacture, Karlsruhe
2012 ”Ladies Night at Paris Bar“, Keil ArtCollection Marburg, City Festival Marburg
2012 Retrospective „Leben im Farbrausch“ (Living a Colorclash), Orangery, Castle Schwetzingen
2011 Keil-Collection Heidelberg, Long Night of the Museums, Heidelberg
2010 Edna Hibel Fine Art Gallery, West Palm Beach, Florida
2010 Keil-Collection Heidelberg, Long Night of the Museums, Heidelberg
2008 The Hurn Museum, Savannah
2007 Villa Meixner, Collection of KulturForum Europa, Brühl/Baden
2007 Kessler Corporation, Orlando, Florida, Savannah, Georgia
2006 Public Library, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
2006 Las Olas Art Center, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
2005 Boxsler Gallery, Lichtenfels
2003 ”60 Jahre Peter Robert Keil“, Kunstsinn Gallery, Nuremberg
2002 International Art Fair, Frankfurt
2001-05 Intercontinental Hotel, Berlin
2000 Exhibitions in Paris, Amsterdam, London
1999 Höckner Gallery, Salzburg, Austria
1999 Galerie Hartl, Wien, Austria
1998 Aventura Art Gallery, Aventura, Florida
1993 Carousel Gallery, Dania, Florida
1985 Wewerka Gallery, (SE), Berlin
1980 Dr. Friedmann Gallery, (SE), Israel
1966 Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung, Berlin
1965 Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung, Berlin
1964 Rotebro, Sweden
1962 First Solo Exhibition (SE), Art Gallery, London
Major Collections
Keil-Collection, Heidelberg, Germany
Dr. Harry Andreas Kremer, Munich, Germany
Dr. Günter Boxler, Lichtenfels, Germany
Dr. Stefan Kastenbauer, München, Germany
Keil Art-Collection, Marburg, Germany
Sammlung Rosenthal, Meckenhofen, Österreich
Gallery Vallerie, Warschau, Polen
Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russland
Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moskau, Russland
Kunsthaus Zürich, Zürich, Schweiz
Berlinische Gallery, Bern, Schweiz
The Kessler Collection, Orlando, FL, USA
Gianfranco Ferré, Fashion Design, NY, USA
Kent Anderson (H&M), NY, USA
West Palm Beach Museum, West Palm Beach, FL, USA
The John Nix Jr. Big Major Collection, Milton, FL, USA
