» bio
Mari Keeler, is a classically trained artist who paints her surroundings and her imaginings. She wears her heart on her sleeve and has art on the brain. Mari never leaves home without a camera (or three) and never misses an opportunity to capture a moment.
Before moving to Princeton, New Jersey from Caracas, Mari learned the basics of painting from her godmother, Venezuelan artist Maria Cristina Romero.
Descended from a long line of artists and art aficionados, it's no wonder that Mari had an early appreciation of art, but she's also the granddaughter of one of the world's first female pilots, Mary Calcaño which could explain her hunger for world travel and adventure.
Mari's most recent adventures include photographing the streets in Stockholm, re-discovering the masters in Berlin, horseback riding in Costa Rica and hiking the Incan trail to Machu Picchu.
When she's not at her easel or experimenting with new photographic techniques, Mari can be found sipping a glass of red wine, discovering a new solar system or riding her bike, Scarlett.
She is currently living and working in New York’s East Village.
» artist statement for San Francisco Show Jan. 2009
We live in a digital world. When it comes to my photography however, I choose not to. There is something about the history and variety of cameras, the hands-on experience when loading film that you loose when shooting digital. I love spending hours in the darkroom when I can, but the photos you see today have been created in-camera since I can't fit a darkroom in my tiny, and unfortunately not rent controlled, New York apartment.
Opting for film instead of digital allows for a certain serendipity in my work. The images I shoot are not meticulously planned. I have an idea of what I look for and want to express, but the end product of overlaps and clash of imagery is mostly by chance. It gives me a feeling of working WITH my camera, as if the lens is another pair of eyes.
For this project, I took images from New York city and juxtaposed them with images of Peru and Venezuela. The images that overlap each other struck me as drastically different, incongruous, yet oddly related. By stacking images of these contrasting cultures, one has the opportunity to be confronted by their differences and explore their similarities. |
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