Though she’s read about it since high school, this is the first year that STLCC-Meramec sophomore and surrealist artist Kelly O’Keefe was able to submit her artwork in the annual Naughti Gras exhibition.
Jacob Hight
– Staff Writer –
Though she’s read about it since high school, this is the first year that STLCC-Meramec sophomore and surrealist artist Kelly O’Keefe was able to submit her artwork in the annual Naughti Gras exhibition.
“It’s basically just a big art show that kind of has like no limits. It encourages artists to explore sexual themes and funny, inappropriate, things you wouldn’t be able to show at a conventional gallery or exhibition,” O’Keefe said with a glance.
The piece O’Keefe submitted is titled, “The Core of Lust.” The painting is an image of a woman whose breasts have been transformed into green apples, and a large, eaten apple core dangling in front of her nude form. An apple leaf covers the woman’s face.
“I don’t like to show personal identity in my artwork. I feel like when you put a face onto a figure or subject, it implies there’s a story there or a specific personality… I wanted the viewer to focus on the concept and the joke rather than the person,” O’Keefe said.
With a laugh, she whispered she hates painting faces.
O’Keefe said she’s inspired by surrealist art, or “Dada art,” and draw inspiration from artists like Salvador Dali, Marcel Duchamp and others.
“I’d say Warhol, but I don’t want to sound cliche,” O’Keefe said, laughing.
O’Keefe said she doesn’t like “living-room art.”
“I wanted to make meaningful, purposeful art, even if it’s something no one ever is going to want to buy or put up in their house. I want to see something that interests me and has a story and I can stare at for more than five minutes, you know?” O’Keefe said, squinting.
“The Core of Lust” has already been purchased. O’Keefe explained art has always been a presence in her life, even from childhood.
“Growing up in St. Louis was pretty cultural, actually. My dad always took us into the city and did cool things with us. A lot of people say it’s a boring city but I definitely disagree,” O’Keefe said.
St. Louis isn’t the only city O’Keefe said played a role in her journey as an artist. She said inspiration also came during a field trip to Chicago in eighth grade.
“I remember it being a big city and there was someone drawing on the sidewalk,” O’Keefe said. “There were people everywhere and this girl was, like trapped, just doing her own thing and nothing else mattered I was like, ‘I want to be that person one day.'”
O’Keefe described her childhood full of “finger-painting and playing outside.”
“Originally, [being an artist] was my childhood ambition,” O’Keefe said. “But everyone told me I was going to be poor. So, I kind of gave up on it and explored other things.
It was during her freshman year of high school that O’Keefe said her interest in art not only returned but became something more.
“I was in my room; I had been grounded for like three months because I was like a bad kid in my freshman year of high school,” O’Keefe said. “I wasn’t doing anything with art at the time, just messing around, partying and hanging out with friends: I got grounded. No television or phone, so you’re just there all by yourself.”
O’Keefe said it was this experience that brought her interest in art into focus.
“I had an easel and I had paint and I had pencils. I was just like, ‘I don’t want to be out with anyone. This is what I want to be doing. I want to be here with my thoughts and my ideas I want to make something out of it that’s going to last,'” O’Keefe said.
However, O’Keefe’s aspirations run deeper.
“I want to work with big, notable clients, getting my name out there, have the freedom and ability to freelance one day,” O’Keefe said, sitting forward in her chair.
O’Keefe wants to make the transition to working independently.
“Well, my favorite artist, his name is Rene Magritte; he’s a surrealist,” O’Keefe said. “He actually started, got his name out there doing advertisements and went straight on to selling his pieces and making a career out of that.”
O’Keefe said she also hopes to work for the Leo Burnett ad agency, which does advertising for Coca-Cola and Pepsi.
Though O’Keefe has not made a professional debut in the advertising industry yet, she began making advertisements when she was 8 with her younger sister.
“We did a lot of weird things,” O’Keefe said with a laugh. “Like when we were younger. We would take computer paper and, like, make our own magazines; we even put advertisements in, like cat food advertisements and weird little kid things.”
So far, O’Keefe said her biggest accomplishment is getting into Columbia College in Chicago, the city where she saw the sidewalk artist so many years ago and the city Leo Burnett is based in.
“I couldn’t have done anything I did in the last two years without the support of my family and friends,” O’Keefe said. “Getting into my dream school was definitely a good moment. That’s when you know everything is starting to happen; you’re really getting on track with a career and what you want to do in life. I know it sounds really cheesy,but I’m so lucky.”
