Mr. Sweeny’s Splended Adventure by Ken Keegan
Ken Keegan is a name of many titles: baseball player, UCSC alumnus, beloved & retired campus bus driver, gallery opener, and sponsor for a sport’s radio show on 1080 KSCO AM (Coach’s Decision, Wednesdays from 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM). However, today we’re appreciating the artwork of Ken Keegan, rightfully self-described as “abstract, surreal, narrative, landscape, portraits, or poetic fantasy.” Familiar in a local and first-second-of-the-morning sense, Keegan’s art manages to give one feelings of both sublimity and comfort, locality and day dream, and more.
Sunrise Surfer Sonata by Ken Keegan
“[I employ] visual vocabulary to tell a story, convey a feeling or to create a world,” said Keegan. “Each art work is a separate entity/adventure…I paint where it takes me, sometimes with a theme or subject, but with room for improvisation…I may have similar styles for a short period of time, but that can be because of location or mood or situation.” Indeed, the artist’s dream-like adventures are anything but stagnant, and are charmingly embracing local Santa Cruz subjects and elements (such as Westcliff surfers, our rolling seaside hills, and Ken Keegan’s own visual memory of time spent teaching art to young students, campers, prisoners, and other lucky ducks).
Keegan has a seriously broad resume, including group murals all around California as well as private commissions. The paintings featured in this article are in fact still available for sale.
Dr. Brown’s Afternoon Dream by Ken Keegan
The artist’s work is instantly full and ethereal and almost pleasantly confusing, creating a literally dreamlike effect on its appreciators. When asked about Keegan’s process, the artist explained, “It is not calculated. I try not to censor myself. I hope to create something real and honest and positive that flows and has balance and is musical and is interactive or serene or just fun.” It looks like the ever-loved local Ken Keegan is not only a dose of personal sunshine to everyone he meets, as well as talented, but also seems to be quite self-aware (in a humbler manner, of course). Keegan’s full artist portfolio can be found here, which features more Santa Cruz-inspired dream scenes.
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