Stephen Keane (b. 1972, Watford) is a London-based painter working in oil, gloss, pastel, charcoal, and spray paint on canvas and paper. He studied in Leeds and at Central Saint Martins, and his practice investigates gesture, rhythm, and the physicality of paint through an intuitive, layered process. His compositions balance raw immediacy with deliberate control. Bold opaque strokes, dripped washes, and scratched surfaces reveal both the materiality of paint and the process of its making, constructing imagined terrains that emerge through cycles of layering, erasure, and revision.
Keane explores painting as an instinctive yet reflective process where colour, form, and rhythm act as conduits to sensory experience. The surface becomes a record of movement and decision — a field where presence and absence continually shift and reassert themselves. For him, painting is a physical and contemplative encounter that strips away narrative to foreground the act of looking. These imagined spaces invite the viewer to enter a charged field of tension and ambiguity, where rhythm and colour unfold.
Stephen Keane lives and works in London. Based at studios on Argall Way, Leyton, he is the Gallery Director of Lea Bridge Gallery, where he also curates exhibitions, alongside projects in other contemporary art spaces.
, Lea Bridge Gallery. Group show curated by Stephen Keane and Alex Fox - Painting - 2026
Vice Versa, The Errant Collaborators, Mirror, Arts University Plymouth. Group show curated by Johanna Melvin - Painting - 2025
, Walthamstow, London, Group show curated by Stephen Keane - 2025
On Beauty, Pictorem Gallery, London. Group show curated by Gisli Bergmann and Patrick Bryson - 2025
Vice Versa, Terrace Gallery at Lea Bridge Library Pavilion, London. Group show curated by Johanna Melvin - Painting - 2025
, Aveling Centre, Lloyd Park, London. Group show curated by Stephen Keane - Painting - 2025
A bag of hope... A box of tears. Garage & Terrace present. The Garage Gallery, London. Group show curated by Karl Bielik - Painting - 2025
, London, Group show curated by Stephen Keane - Painting and drawing - 2025
Painting Open, Second Floor Studios CIC, no format Gallery, London - 2024
, Leytonstone, London, Group show curated by Stephen Keane - Painting, Sculpture and Photography - 2024
, London, Group show curated by Sara Breinlinger and Stephen Keane - Painting - 2024
, Lea Bridge Library Pavilion, London, Group show curated by Stephen Keane - Painting - 2024
Raw Edges, Dark Yellow Dot, London, Group show - Painting - 2024
VALUE, Barbican Arts Group Trust, London, Group show - Painting - 2024
Unintentional, Madame Lillies, London, Solo Show - Painting - 2010
The Schizophrenic Tenant, Xinacitta Animation Festival, Barcelona - Animation - 2006
Filler, Flash Forward NYC, New York - Installation - 2002
The Sculpted Form, Net Chisel IX Sculpture Biennial, Carrara, Italy - Animation - 2002
ShockArt, BC Bluecheese Factory, Rome, Italy - Installation - 2002
ShockArt, National Gallery of Modern Art of Rome, Italy - Installation - 2001
ShockArt, Art Biennial of Valencia, Spain - Animation (installation by Peter Greenaway) - 2001
GMI, The Foundation for Art & Creative Technology, London - Animation - 1999
La Sala, Barcelona, Spain - Installation - 1996
Kika, Barcelona, Spain - Mural - 1996
4states, Northampton, UK - Group show - Painting - 1993