Paul Keene, photo courtesy James A. Michener Art Museum library

Through deeply personal pictures Paul Keene brings together the painter's visceral love of color with the mystery of memory and the subconscious mind. Mr. Keene is a quiet man who chooses to speak with line, shape, and most passionately- with color. Always avoiding the didactic, he gives us hints and suggestions, then leaves us to discover our own meaning in his work. -Bruce Katsiff

Color serves as the compositional key in the works of painter Paul Keene. Working primarily with acrylic paints on paper, Keene described his painting as abstract realist. His window scenes and landscape studies demonstrate his skillful manipulation of scale, color, light, and atmosphere. Keene often utilized grid compositions, juxtaposed against the concentric circles of radiating color which Keene considered his "unconscious" personal symbol.
Keene has explored the iconography and symbolism of African-American life and culture. In his work, Keene created new icons of black urban life with his anonymous portraits of jazz musicians, and documented the movement and vitality of city life.
Keene taught painting and drawing at Bucks County Community College from 1968 to 1985, serving as the Art Department Chairperson for three years. He has exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the James A. Michener Art Museum, the Afro-American Historical and Cultural Museum, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Keene has been the recipient of numerous prestigious awards.