My name is Owen McCallum-Keeler. I live in Queens, New York. I grew up in the Bay Area. I graduated from RISD with a BFA in 2023. I mostly draw and paint but also work with digital media and sculpture.

Most of my work has the same procedural sensibility but varies in process and material. Typically, my first move is selecting and producing a generative base layer/system which has structural properties that allow it to be subdivided, expanded, reticulated, redacted ect. The second move is to complicate or transform the base layer through its generative properties. The third move is to resolve the complications while preserving the legibility of the procedure through an editing and refining process. This procedure is probably the only constant in my process, other than my fixation with adding detail.

tower defense games, monopoly, flow charts, Nietzche, Don Quixote, old tech, advertisements, 2001, 2000s internet, Byung-Chul Han, Iannis Xenikis, Psychoanalysis, games, 3d modeling, Sigmar Polke, Malevich, Phillip Guston, Agnes Martin, Thomas Vinterberg, Takeshi Kitano, Illuminated manuscripts, go game, small objects, architectural drawing, computer lab, social media, Roald Dahl, Otis Redding, Piero Piccioni, Waylon Jennings, Barthes, industrial interiors, Rene Laloux, Terry Gilliam, Adolf Wolfli, Tibetan tankas, Gene Wilder Willy Wonka, war,  Peter Stokkebye cigarettes, gemstones and rocks, software interfaces, Painters Painting, Carl Jung, Jean Baudrillard, outlaw country, Furry Lewis, Mississippi John Hurt, iSpy, KidPix, Powerpoint, Lego, The Blue Danube.

I use ink, acrylic, pencil and paper because they can be layered interchangeably and dry quickly. The medium and process are in constantly informing each other.

Without painting I would have no sense of direction or idea of purpose but painting seems to require a lot of sacrifice. I work full time and do not make much money from painting. Time is limited and other aspects of my life sometimes suffer due to allocating the majority of my time to the studio. In many ways painting is already all that I need it to be, it allows me to own the objects of my labor and provides a catalyst for my individual development and progress. That being said, the studio takes my money, keeps me isolated for prolonged periods of time and distracts me from professional pursuits and domestic responsibilities. My hope is that eventually it will grow into an entity that will enrich and provide for the aspects of my life that I sacrificed.

The Hipster Paradox

Fine most the time, great sometimes

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