Way back in the Fall, I took to a trip to a nowhere spot in Brooklyn to interview Keating Sherwin -- the tantalizingly reclusive artist whose portraits are as viscerally powerful as her painter's uniform of paint-stained overalls and no-nonsense boots. Having never been one to stay on the straight-and-narrow path -- I've been a Conde Nast editor, a full-time mom, a yoga teacher, and, most recently, the co-founder of a startup with my 25-year-old daughter -- I totally relate to the zig-zag route that has led Keating to her calling.
The piercing, polished rawness of Keating's style and art made it impossible to share with you only a few photos. For some visual stimulation that'll make you want to lock yourself in a basement and do nothing but paint Egon Schiele-esque portraits, check out Keating's story below.
xo,
Elisa
Ralph Lauren velvet blazer, dress from a friend, Wolford tights, Prada boots.
"I worked in marketing for a year. I was an executive assistant to a global CEO. With no logistical prowess, I was the worst assistant of all time. So I started working in a fashion showroom, but I wasn't doing anything hands-on with clothes -- I was just entering lists into computers. Eventually, I moonlighted as a cocktail waitress on a rooftop and did makeup for photo shoots, which I hated. Everyone is watching you, and I'm a perfectionist to a fault, so I could just sit there with the model forever."
American Apparel tee shirt, Umberto Ginochietti, Prada boots.
"Finally, at 24, I had an identity crisis. I was living in a converted two-bedroom East Village apartment with two girls -- one worked in PR, the other had a corporate job. I painted my bedroom walls with giant faces. It was nutty. My roommates asked, 'What is going on with you?' I realized that whatever I was trying to make happen wasn't going to happen in that apartment. I told my roommates I had to move out. I moved to a basement in Brooklyn. For six months, I had no windows. It was a weird way to live and a dark winter. But I had the entire place to myself to just make a painting."
Ralph Lauren velvet blazer, dress from a friend, Wolford tights, Prada boots.
"I kept asking myself, 'What am I painting?' I wasn’t finding something that was exciting and that I wanted to stick with. I was living with my ex in No Man's Land near Dumbo. At the end of the block there was a library (which, in this town, is fabulous, because you can order any book you want). My boyfriend checked out Marin Gayford's Man with a Blue Scarf. Gayford sat for Lucian Freud and loosely journaled about the experience. Before reading that, I never considered painting people from life. Afterwards, I told myself, 'I have to try this.' My good friend and neighbor, Georgia, was my first. There were four or five sittings. At first, she wore a fedora and lace bra, but that made her seem like she was at a cabaret, so I had to undress her. She was so intuitive and understanding about what I was trying to do. I couldn't have asked for a better first person to help me through this scary experiment."
US Navy overalls, Dead Flowers Greatest Hits sleeveless tee shirts.
"I don't want to paint someone who's not a friend. I need to be in love with you in order to paint you. Mostly, my paintings are intuitive accidents. I’m not a schooled painter. I see why a lot of people who go to art school don’t become artists. The more you know, the more you realize that you don’t know a damn thing. After I declared to everyone that I was a painter, I just forced myself to own up to it."
Maison Martin Margiela boots.
American Apparel overalls, J. Mishra cashmere, Dr. Martens.
"My interest in fashion has dwindled to basically nothing. Not to say that I don’t appreciate craftsmanship and a beautiful garment -- I do. But, practically, it doesn’t make sense for my life. I’m in a paint studio. I remember dying for some sort of white overall get-up that I could paint in. When I bought a pair, I was so sad the next day about how dirty they had already become. 'They were so white!' I cried."
Photographed and interviewed by Elisa Goodkind
For more information on Keating, click here.