Grisebach is delighted to present new works by Philipp Keel, the artist, author and publisher of Diogenes, in the exhibition Coincidences on the occasion of Gallery Weekend Berlin 2023.
When he encounters a motif, usually in an inconspicuous place, he can't let it go. Then he wants to capture it and already imagine what it will become later. It is these seemingly random moments that have always characterised Philipp Keel's work. His curiosity and playfulness, but also his impatience, have led him to express himself using different techniques and often dealing with similar subjects. A cup of green tea, a view of the Tyrrhenian Sea near Monte Argentario, flowers in a vase, a pair of glasses on the couch, a small fish filled with soya sauce and, again and again, palm trees, without which it is hard to imagine his oeuvre. His most recent works come directly from the studio at Grisebach. They are oil paintings, photographs, watercolours, drawings and sculptures, some of which Keel was still working on until recently.
"It's almost an obsession that I'm constantly observing things and places that demand something of me, as if they're trying to tell me something and I have something to understand. When it happens, I forget what's going on around me. Even when something or someone is waiting for me. I then imagine what it would be like to be able to show this picture to a friend."
With his uncompromising approach, Keel tries to get closer to the truth behind things, and sometimes it seems as if he is saving himself from ever having to give up this search with a mixture of melancholy and irony. The staged provocation, the unconditional challenge were never his main focus. Even when he ventures into socially critical or environmentally ethical works such as Rocket Bouquet, 2022. and Soy Fish, 2022. they are mysterious and aesthetic.
"Fascinated by everything that attracts us in the incidental, the artist longs for people, experiences and observations, because without them he would be hopelessly lost."
The Coincidences exhibition is a romantic maze in which you want to lose yourself, a homesickness for a time that was less complicated, that challenged you without demanding anything. In their loving rigour, Philipp Keel's works are like an ever-changing kaleidoscope. We don't have to return, the places have long been hidden within us.
Philipp Keel studied at the Berklee College of Music in Boston and at the Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen in Munich before working in various artistic disciplines in the USA for twenty years. His photographs, paintings, watercolours, drawings and screen prints have since been shown in numerous international exhibitions and are represented in leading collections. The bestsellers All About Me and All About Us (Random House, 1998/2000), the photo book Colour (Steidl, 2004) and the book series Keel's Simple Diary (TASCHEN, 2009/2011) made him famous worldwide. Villa Flor in S-chanf and the Apalazzo Gallery in Brescia exhibited his work for State of Mind (Nieves, 2014). His photographs were shown at Camera Work in Berlin and with Splash (Steidl, 2015), Last Summer (Steidl, 2021) and in 2022/23 with In Other Words at the Bildhalle in Zurich. With Diogenes Entertainment, he accompanies international film and television projects as a producer. In 2022, Philipp Keel received the 'Premio Enrico Filippini' for his work as a publisher. He lives and works in Zurich.