Keith Morant

A message from Keith

My art is always a journey of discovery into the essence of being. It is an effort to externalize the truth of my own existence on as many levels as possible and communicate a greater awareness of the quality of life. It is an attempt to generate enquiry into the greater spheres of understanding which lie beyond conventionalized intellection. For me, art is always an answer to which the question must be found.    

In trying to come to terms with my compulsion to paint I have read deeply on the subjects of art, artists, philosophy, psychology and human creative history in general. It has been my desire to comprehend not only the multifold meanings of art, but more importantly, the reasoning behind my own innate desire to create. My findings, while certainly enriching my mind as to the necessity of art as a natural balancing process of the collective human psyche, has not given any satisfactory explanations or conclusions as to my personal predilection. Indeed, my researches have often led me in a contrary direction where I am often confounded by the perversity and unreliability inherent to the so-called art scene.
Of course, in this age of ultra-communication and media conditioning, the dissemination of knowledge is at once both manipulative and out of control. The plethora of paradoxes and downright absurdities one encounters in the jungle of jargonese of art writers alone is enough to confuse the most enlightened of researchers. My own investigations have led me to conclude that, on one hand, any art knowledge can only be related to in retrospect, and on the other, while it may be of certain educational value, such knowledge is quite useless as an indicator to future directions or states. 

I have been painting now for over fifty years and I believe such experience has given me an evolving advantage where sometimes-satisfactory conclusions may be reached. However, every painting is a totally new experiment and I know that I will never live long enough to experience any form of ultimate satisfaction or so-called success. What small accomplishments I do experience must stay deep within myself in the knowledge that they may not necessarily communicate their fullest potential right away. I must always work for the future in the hope that someday my understanding beyond knowledge will communicate whatever it is that nature is saying through me. It is my wish that my own work, while initially seen only by the eye, will eventually be perceived by mind, and thus prove conducive to some small expansion of human consciousness.