Launch Recite Me assistive technology
A surreal painting featuring a fragmented landscape of blue and green. In the centre, two figures face each other, surrounded by a collage of scenes including a giant red crab, a red house, and various floating heads.

Illustration: Keith Warren Greiman shows us how surreal the everyday can be

—
Date
11 September 2013

For one day only I would like to see what life looks like through illustrator Keith Warren Greiman’s eyes. It would undoubtedly be a colourful experience, filled with people and maybe some animals, both doing supernatural things that seem everyday because everything is, well, animated. His explanation? Humans are “conduits of the gritty, vibrant energy that propels our day to day living.” So it is no wonder really that his illustrations, prints, drawing and paintings are as toxically hued as they are, seeing surfaces split into mazes of manic encounters between people, boldly coloured with bright lips and fluorescent hair. It is everyday life but Keith presents it with that giddy feeling you get sometimes, often passed off as déjà vu,; that feeling that you are seeing the experience as you are living it.

A colourful illustration of two rows of city houses, each filled with people looking out of windows or standing in doorways. In the foreground, a person plays with a dog in a garden while another person stands nearby.
Above

Keith Warren Greiman: The Diamond Dog

A surreal painting of a night scene set between two red brick buildings. A large, striped creature stands in the centre, surrounded by floating brains, a black cat, and a floating face.
Above

Keith Warren Greiman: Bear Suit

A painting of a chaotic party scene with several figures in formal wear. People dance and lounge around a yellow room, while one person rides a bicycle in the background.
Above

Keith Warren Greiman: New Years Prom

A painting of a person reclining in a large black armchair, reading a red book and holding a cocktail. In the background, another person in a black dress stands in a doorway, holding a blue telephone to their ear.
Above

Keith Warren Greiman: UTNE Reader

A colourful painting of a crowded park scene with figures in various poses. In the centre, a person with pink hair reaches towards another person who lies on the grass.
Above

Keith Warren Greiman: SNOQUALMIE

Share Article

About the Author

Emily Beber

—

It's Nice That Newsletters

Fancy a bit of It's Nice That in your inbox? Sign up to our newsletters and we'll keep you in the loop with everything good going on in the creative world.