Biography: Donald Keys

Donald is not a narrative painter, more a chronicler of Australian life—his works are figurative, and delineated in a contemporary realist style. He paints using vibrant colours that are quintessentially Australian. His early works employed quite visible brush strokes to enhance texture which gave them a tactile quality. Later works tend to be focused on light and shade for depth and emotion.

His works generally feature people enjoying their leisure time surrounded by a mix of man-made structures, and the natural beauty of the Australian landscape. Specific subjects covered in series include; heavy industrial, native plants, Australia’s love of the surf, portraits of artists, and the city between dust and dawn. More recently, Donald has explored pop-art, and also surreal images based on the life of the artist’s mannequin.

Donald has featured in over seventy exhibitions—twenty-three of those being solo shows. He is an exhibiting member of The Royal Art Society of New South Wales.