Artist Keith Duncan
When I first met Keith, he had just returned to New York
from his intensive study in Maine at Skowheagen School of Art.
We met for drinks one evening at Under Acme, in NOHO, NYC.
Keith came bounding over and embraced me. It was a nice
change to receive such a warm welcome. He was dressed sharp,
wearing a black trenchcoat, black dress shirt, and a Fedora
to match. Under each arm was tucked a dazzling woman.
We headed to the club Farenheit, in Tribeca where we
met up with some old members of the Warhol circle. An entourage
that included Bear, a man looking like he stepped off the Beatles
Yellow Submarine album cover, an Aryan dwarf couple, a contortionist
club kid, and a 300-pound linebacker body guard. Although the club was
lame and populated by the dregs, Keith managed to create a cyclone of
excitement within minutes.
He promptly ordered a round of drinks and spun his dancing
Queens, Rebecca and Jules, into a series of dervish-like dances.
Keith's face radiated ecstatic life, his hands clapping, and his
body arched. A marked contrast from the entourage whose faces
were stamped with boredom, invisible weights on their eyes,
cigarettes dangling low from their mouths, and you could tell
that they had seen everything of the club scene in New York,
and that this club was a back porch snooze.
The Imperial Orgy TV show recently took the opportunity
to feature Keith in an exclusive interview at a Williamsburg,
Brooklyn watering hole. Caeser sat down with Keith to talk
politics, philosophy, and Outsider Art.
Caeser Pink: Tell us a bit about yourself.
Keith Duncan: Well, I'm from New Orleans, and I got my BFA
from Louisiana State University. But I've been in New York
for 10 years. I got my masters from Hunter College.
Caeser Pink: What made you want to be an artist?
Keith Duncan: I don't think I wanted to be an artist. It was
just something I was good at. Something that I could do,
since my childhood.
CP: Was it like a compulsion, something that you had to do?
KD: Definitely, because as a child we all find out what we
want to do and what we want to be, and naturally art was what
I was good at. The bullies, the athletes, and the kids at
school...everyone wants to find out what they're good at.
My thing to beat the bullies was my art. That was my salvation.
CP: So you had a lot of adversity to overcome at school?
KD: I think the biggest thing is acceptance, to be
accepted, and over time I think it came. Through the
art I expressed that. And in my MFA show, at Hunter,
my thesis was all about my childhood and what I went
through to be accepted...just as someone who exists.
A lot of my issues dealt with my disability. But I
came to find out later that I'm not the one that's
disabled...it's society. Accept me as I am. The MFA show
talked about the rights of the disabled. There are civil
rights in every degree, and it was something I had to work
through. In my recent work, I've moved beyond that.
After school I dealt with more issues of spirituality,
and now my work is more about political social issues.
CP: Even though you've experienced a lot of adversity in
life, you still seem to be such a positive force.
Maybe even a more positive attitude than people who have it easy.
KD: I don't see myself and my being as a weakness, in fact it's
my strength. My critics or enemies have fed me over the years.
That's what I've thrived on. I'm not going to be beaten by words
or images. I'm gonna climb beyond that...I've never dwelled on
anything negative.
CP: Let's change gears and find out who, or what has
influenced you and your art.
KD: Jacob Lawrence, Romero Bearden, David Salle, not to
mention Warhol. Right now I'm not looking at painters and
sculptures per se. I'm listening to more music. The
fact that dance music, theater, and writers, they're
also artists. My inspiration comes from outside the visual.
Because if you're always in the visual arts realm and
your inspiration comes from that, your work is gonna look
like that. So I want to look outside of the visual and my
inspiration comes from music and the other art forms.
CP: Do you think there is any genre that your work fits into?
KD: I guess my work fits into, I think, Outsider Art.
They're dealing with images that are unconventional or
more disturbing images. And I think that if I fit into
anything, I fit in as an Outsider Artist.
CP: I know that you're also a teacher. What does teaching
mean to you?
KD: Teaching kids is very rewarding. Going back to childhood...
when you teach someone, you learn also, and you're
giving back. That's fantastic. And I'm teaching these
kids something I've learned. And I feel them get it. I don't
think I reach every kid, but there are some days I feel like
I didn't get anything accomplished, but there are also some days
I know I got something accomplished. And it's a great feeling.
I want to try to continue doing this. Also I look at my
work, because it goes hand in hand. The kids work is so
innocent, and it has its own power. And then
you go back
and look at your work and go, "Wow, why can't I match this?
These are kids. But it's the innocence in them, and that's
what I get out of it. They feed me as I'm giving them
something. It's a great exchange going on."
To view a video profile with Keith from The Imperial Orgy
TV Show click below
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