Keefe Baker

Keefe L. Baker (1927-2008)

Southern California Abstract Artist

Professor of Fine Art at San Diego State University

1965-1996

Keefe Baker was born in Oakland, California in 1927.

He began his formal art training at the Hans Weichman Studio in Berlin, Germany following WWII. In 1948 he returned to the United States to study at California School of Arts (now the San Francisco Art Institute). Among his teachers and mentors were Max Beckmann, Clyfford Still, Elmer Bischoff and Mauricio Lasansky.

He received his MFA from the University of Colorado and his MFA from the University of Iowa. He taught art at St. John's University (1956-58) and at Northern Illinois University (1959-65). During these years Keefe exhibited paintings, drawings and prints (etchings and woodcuts) in numerous groups shows and won many awards for his work.

Keefe moved his family to San Diego, California in 1965, where he was a Professor of Fine Art at San Diego State University for over 30 years. The enviroment of Southern California greatly influenced his artwork. In the 1980's to 1990's Keefe produced colorful large scale abstract paintings which make up the predominant body of his painting work. Using roller paint brushes he layered the acrylic paints giving complex depth and lumination to his painting compositions. In his later years Keefe produced a large quantity of pastels where he combined the pastel colors sometimes using a textural back drop behind the paper for texture.

Keefe exhibited locally in San Diego. He passed away from Alzheimer's disease in 2008 leaving behind a dynamic body of work, the majority unseen until now by the public.

"What matters most to me is the life of a painting , what life I can give it and what life it can convey."