URGE TO PAINT

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A quiet, shy, gentle giant, Keith was born on the 28th of May 1955 and died at the age of 27, on the 9th of July 1982. His mother writes, “Keith had high morals, he cared about the world we live in, he cared about people especially the underdog. He was not an angry person, but he did not fit in, he was just too shy.”

Keith started school in Wood Green in 1960 and moved to Hoddesdon aged 7, attending Rye Park Junior School from 1962. After passing his 11+ he moved to Broxbourne Grammar in 1967 and in his fourth year he made a decision that Art was the pathway he wanted to take. His art teacher Harman Sumray (also a Goldsmiths graduate) took him under his wing and helped nurture his talent.

When he was accepted at Goldsmiths to study for an Art foundation in 1975 he had firmly moved into the realms of working artist. At 19 he moved into a communal house on Station Road in Broxbourne where he lived until 1982. The church opposite his bedroom window situated between the New River and the River Lea became a focus of many painting studies for the rest of his short life.

At the time of his death Keith was preparing to return to Goldsmiths to study for an Degree in Art & Design.

Some of his paintings are nearly 50 years old and fragile so exhibiting them professionally remains essential. For an artist who never got to share his vision, we think it is also respectful to Keith’s legacy to present the work as he might have done himself in his 62nd year, had he lived.  This website is our offering.