Interview
Keith Josiah
Keith’s art is his preferred form of self-expression. He uses art as a way to personify figurative language and concepts, and depict the conversations he has with himself.
Keith uses shapes and colors to reflect the different perceptions, thoughts, feelings, emotions, and opinions that he experiences, and how they look within his own imagination.
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“Unbeknownst to my family, I started painting when I was 7. I would paint alone at my grandparents’ house. My granddaddy had a shop outside, and I would use his old paints, markers, and chalk.
In 2019, I was invited to New York for an art show and had the opportunity to be in my first exhibition.”
What inspires you?
“My drawings and shapes are inspired by colors, music, emotions, my own imagination, and sounds and other things that I hear.
The subject matter of my pieces itself is inspired by love and emotions. Falling in love with a new song or writing a piece of poetry can also get my imagination buzzing.”
What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?
“I mainly thing try to pursue a greater understanding of who I am as a person. A lot of my paintings capture a specific moment of my life. In almost all of them, there’s a space where you can see the way my imagination works.”
“All my thoughts, feelings, ideas, opinions, emotions, and wonders are personified in almost all of my paintings.”
How would you describe your work?
“The best way to describe my work is to call it a window into my imagination. You can see how I’m living in color and the things that are important to me through the lens of how I see them in my head.”
Which artists influence you most?
“The artist that influences me most is Basquiat, of course. Joyce Lee, Takashi Murakami, George Condo, and Darryn Rae also play their part.”
What is your creative process like?
“My process is different every time. I often don’t start with an idea of what I want to do; I just go at it. At other times, I genuinely think about what I would want something to look like, especially if it’s based on a poem I wrote.”
What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?
“An artist’s role in society is to inspire the aspects of life that make it worth living—love, happiness, a sense that someone else out there understands you, and a push towards people’s hopes and dreams. When you watch an old Disney movie, you’re looking at a wealth of art which has inspired happiness for generations. As artists, that’s our role: to make something beautiful that people can see themselves in.”
Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?
“I recently had an exhibition in London at Boomer Gallery, and it was amazing. It was my first time overseas and I didn’t know what to expect, but it was everything I could have hoped for.”
