MARK KELLER

For Mark Keller, the road to becoming a successful painter has been, well, indirect. Starting out as a working musician touring with a rock band at age eighteen, Mark has enjoyed several distinguished careers, including art director, illustrator, and commercial music producer.

Long before he became known as a fine artist, Mark created award-winning ads for Nocona Boots and Levi's Jeans.

He also illustrated posters for TWA and Sheraton Hotels, and he wrote music for hundreds of national television commercials directing such legendary artists as Ray Charles, Willie Nelson, Little Richard, Michael Jackson, and Johnny Cash.

Now as a painter, his work often reflects how much music has impacted his life. From smoke-filled tango bars in Buenos Aires to jazz clubs in Paris and street musicians in New York subways, his paintings convey an audible as well as a visual emotion. The use of music as a recurring element in his pictures seems just as universal as personal.

Each year Book Art Press Ltd. of New York puts out a compendium of recent works by contemporary artists entitled New Art International. In 2002 Mark won first place for their art competition. Recently Mark was selected to paint one in a series of original paintings incorporating the hot new Chevrolet SSR pickup truck. These paintings toured around the country with the first twenty-five SSRs produced. At the end of the tour the paintings were auctioned off with the trucks. The truck with Mark's painting in the front seat sold for around $100,000

With his wife and two children (all artists) Mark now divides his time between homes in Sausalito, CA and San Juan Island, WA.

Exclusively represented in Charleston by Charles II Art Gallery