Keith O. Anderson: What Becomes of a Broken Heart

March 14 – April 18, 2010

Number 35 is pleased to present works from New York-based artist Keith O. Anderson. This is his first exhibition with the gallery.

The Dadaists understood the elements of change and chance to be influential to the creation of an artwork. Anderson’s work cradles the idea of chance in that he finds his inspiration and materials walking along the street in discarded boards, chairs and broken records. From these items, he adds his own untamable element: fire.

Either ignited or dormant, the flammable aspect of Anderson’s work plays into its understanding. In This Side of the Bed is Occupied (2002), a stray piece of wood is surrounded entirely by matchsticks and glue, the sticks decapitated and therefore robbed of their only function. The heads are found in A Prayer Cloth (2009), where they are glued to a piece of canvas soaked with linseed oil. The two components lay side by side without igniting. 

Anderson also draws his aesthetic from after the alchemic reaction has occurred. In Pour Robert Filliou (2010), the matchsticks appear again, this time as spent objects strung together to resemble an explosive, ammunition, or a chain reaction.  Autoportrait (2009), reveals golden raisins adhered to the inside of an old shirt. 

Keith O. Anderson (b. 1960 Miami, FL) is an artist based in New York City. His work has been exhibited internationally and in the United States including I Space (Chicago), Chicago Cultural Center, Galerie Christine Marquet de Vasselot (Paris), Rush Arts Gallery (New York), Power House Memphis, Longwood Art Gallery (New York), Evanston Art Center, Riverside Art Center, Klein Arts Works (Chicago), 16th Evanston and Vicinity Biennial, 44th Salon Montrouge, Art Junction International (Nice), Galerie du Jour, Agnès b., (Paris) and the FIAC International Art Fair (Paris). In 2008, Anderson was awarded the Urban Artist Initiative /NYC Fellowship.