Figurative and Symbolic: Art by John Keaton
John Keaton is a Pennsylvania-based traditional artist, whose work has wide range in terms of both style and medium. John’s work tends to be figurative and symbolic in subtle ways, and the artist often adapts his subject matter to suit a particular medium.
I like the sense of contrast in John’s portfolio, even between his color works and his black and white works. The style takes on a celebratory, explorative feeling – his color works tend to be flattened and simplified to better accommodate large planes of color, whereas his black and white works are dense with detailed line art and textural moments.
John’s children’s book illustrations take the artist’s style to a different extreme, with enlarged eyes on figures, and smooth textures throughout. I especially like John’s kid-friendly illustrations of animals, and the way the eyes seem inspired by animated characters from various moments in pop culture.
