Locked-in artist breaks free with ‘Skullscapes’

Viewers would never guess it from looking at his work, but artist Jeffrey Keough suffered a stroke in 2005 that left him with “locked-in-syndrome.” The rare and often fatal condition rendered him unable to walk or talk, but his mental abilities were unaffected.

Keough’s first solo exhibit, “Skullscapes,” appears at the LeRoy Neiman Center for Print Studies at the Columbia University School of the Arts now through March 31. The exhibit was organized by Tomas Vu-Daniel, artistic director of the Neiman Center.

Expressing his renewed dedication to his art, Keough said, “I am fortunate to be here at all, but am practically lucky to have learned something important from each of the artists with whom I have had the privilege to work with.”

Given the tremendous challenges he has confronted in his personal life, Keough’s work is all the more compelling as a means of communication and self-expression. The artist is careful to point out, though, that his art is much more than just a reflection of his current condition. “I want to reach beyond the therapeutic to a larger relevancy,” he said.

As students walk into the gallery space, it is impossible not to notice the row of six skulls standing guard atop square pillars along a wall. Calling to mind the sculpted marble busts of ancient Roman senators, these skulls demonstrate the artist’s sharp eye for mixed media with colorful silk flowers and thick plastic framed glasses.

Keough’s dark sense of humor is undeniably on display here—the skulls are given individualized personalities with names like “Joe,” “Gwen,” and “Pierre.” Some of the skulls sit atop books, and a quick glance at their spines reveals titles such as “Dante’s Inferno” and “Don DeLillo’s Falling Man” (a reference to the photograph of a man who jumped from the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001).

Keough’s art exists at the intersection of dark and light, eerie and everyday, creepy and cliché. His particular talent seems to be in finding the humor in this shocking juxtaposition of the mundane with the macabre. To this end, Keough takes ordinary objects and adds subtle—and some not-so-subtle—elements of perversion to surprise viewers into taking notice. Stock photographs taken from store-bought picture frames have been destroyed by an errant hole-puncher—Keough has cleverly named this piece “Wholy Family.”

While “Skullscapes” is undoubtedly a challenging and provocative exhibit, visitors may leave the gallery feeling slightly uncertain of what to make of Keough’s work. Is he pushing people to find levity even in morbid subjects? Is he pointing out the sinister elements lurking behind a cheerful façade? Or, possibly, his goal is simply to shock and entertain.