Picturing Places and Spaces

Russell Keeter's untitled painting transports the viewer to a place that appears to be situated in the Mediterranean because of the distinctive blue sky, the white marble structures, and the dark silhouettes of cypress trees. A haze obscures trees and hills in the distance, and in the middle space, bright sunlight falls on the green hillocks and stone surfaces in a serene, garden-like space. This impression changes when looking more closely at the form and placement of the stone structures that now seem unstable. In addition, the garden is not populated with figures, and weeds grow between the paving stones of the walkway suggesting the place is not being tended. Most perplexing is the white box in the lower right corner. It has an open side that is covered by a sheer curtain, and human legs emerge from the aperture. These elements convey a feeling that this is a place of dreams with whimsical, frightening, and unexplained aspects. The viewer is held in the darkness of the foreground unable to engage in the scene.

Russel Keeter taught at the Center for Creative Studies (now College of Creative Studies) from 1961 to 1991, and he is best known for his figural paintings. Keeter was active in solo and group exhibitions in the Detroit area. He inspired students as evident in an exhibition, A Teacher's Legacy: Russell Keeter & His Students, commemorating the twentieth anniversary of his death in 2011. Keeter was a mentor and friend to Electra Stamelos who taught at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. In 1985, Stamelos invited Keeter to make a presentation on campus about his approach to rendering the human form.