A Unique Local Chicago Artist: Keiko Nemeth

 

https://chicago-artists.com and Friedman Fine Art are pleased to represent the marvelous works of Chicago contemporary artist Keiko Nemeth.

 

The following is a review by a local Chicago art critic and author, Mr. Victor M. Cassidy on my work.

 

Painting is a “really compelling thing,” says Keiko Nemeth. “Painting transcends time and allows the mind to enter experience that’s otherwise not possible.” When she paints, time stands still and she speaks directly, intuitively to the viewer.

 

Nemeth responds to the beauty and energy of landscape. A walk in the woods may inspire a painting, but she provides no specifics of what she saw. Instead, her imagery only suggests water, trees, vegetation, light, and shadow. Nemeth grew in Japan and California where she was inspired by the light and scenery. The work she makes in Chicago embodies much of these experiences, while she continually probes the expressive possibility of her medium.

 

A key influence on Nemeth is the semi-abstract artists Richard Diebenkorn, who painted the brilliant colors of the California and New Mexico landscape from an aerial perspective. Diebenkom’s color is easy to recognize in Nemeth’s work, and she uses it expressively to make a strong painting – and never as decoration. Nemeth’s small canvases suggest the she also responds to Diebenkorn’s compositional sense.

 

Another influence is the abstract expressionist Joan Mitchell, whose large landscape-inspired paintings are known for their vigorous brushwork. The eye recognizes Mitchell’s impact on Nemeth’s large canvases, also in her murals.

 

“Terra” means “earthly experience” to the artists who responds to the light, color, and constant change of nature, but puts no specific details into her paintings. Thinking in purely visual terms, she satisfies the demands of the painting as she works.

 

Life is full of surprises! The artists thought that Terra No. 84 would suggest her response to nature, but the painting took over and two figures appeared in it as she worked. On the left is a woman gowned in dark red with her tangerine-colored skirt lifted by the breeze. A man in dark colors is visible at night.

 

Mana Nos. 1 & 2 (pair of oil on canvas paintings that each measures 76″ x 82”)

 

     

 

Divided diagonally, Mana No. 1 contains familiar landscape forms and colors in its upper half while the lower half is tougher and less lyrical. There’s a touch of Monet in this painting.

 

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