1985                born in Grimma, Germany

2006-2008      study of visual arts at the AdBK Nürnberg, Germany, with Prof. Rolf-Gunter Dienst

2008-2014      study of painting and graphic arts at the HfBK Dresden, Germany, with Prof. Elke Hopfe and Prof. Ralf Kerbach

2016-              Master at the HGB Leipzig with Prof. Annette Schröter

lives and works in Dresden and Leipzig, Germany

Solo exhibitions

2021 »Eric Keller · Malerei«, Galerie Poll (Schaulager), Berlin

2020 »Nachsaison«, Galerie Poll, Berlin

»Traces« (with Thomas Fißler), AG Galerie, Schwerin

2019 »Interference« (with Katarína Dubovská), Galerie Stephanie Kelly, Dresden

»Paravent« (with Carolin Israel), plan.d., Düsseldorf

2018                »Stille Drift«, Galerie Poll, Berlin, Germany

                         »HALALI« (with Michael Klipphahn), Museum Schloss Klippenstein, Radeberg, Germany

2017                »Rupfen in fremden Gärten« (mit Michael Klipphahn), Kunztraum Dresden, Germany

2015                »Ein Date am Kanal«, Galerie Leuenroth, Frankfurt/Main, Germany

                         »Eric Keller«, galerie baer, Dresden, Germany

                         Presentation of artwork »Talsperre« at the event »Begegnung der Künste«, Lichthof, Albertinum Dresden, Germany                     

2014                »Novemberkind«, galerie baer, Dresden, Germany

2013                »Eric Keller/Simon Rosenthal - Malerei und Zeichnung«, Galerie Poll, Berlin, Germany

2012                »Freizeittreff Fortschritt«, Galerie Irrgang, Leipzig, Germany

                         »Von Nah und Fern«, Galerie der HfBK Dresden, Germany

2011                »Andreas Wachter und Eric Keller«, Galerie Irrgang, Berlin, Germany

Participations (selected)

2021 »Von der Kunst, Kunst zu fördern«, Städtische Galerie Dresden

»Kunstpreis Kunst, Psyche und Gesundheit – Shortlist 2021«, FBZ, Ruhr-Universität, Bochum

2020 »Existenz II: Spuren«, Oktogon, HfBK Dresden

»Im Gehäuse – Atelierdarstellungen Leipziger Künstler*innen«, Kunsthalle der Sparkasse Leipzig

»Ereignis Malerei«, Tapetenwerk, Leipzig

2019 »Neuzugänge«, Vertretung des Freistaates Sachsen beim Bund, Berlin

»WONDERWALL«, Galerie Leuenroth, Frankfurt/Main

»Win Win«, Halle 14, Leipzig

»In Memoriam – Hieronymus Wachter«, Galerie Irrgang, Leipzig

»Deutsche Heimat«, Galerie Holger John, Dresden

»Konvoi«, Galerie Leuenroth, Frankfurt/Main

2018               »Ursulasalon«, Galerie Ursula Walter, Dresden

»COLLISIONE«, LAZ Galerie, Zürich, CH

»Konvoi«, Galerie Rothamel, Erfurt

»Meister18«, HGB, Leipzig

»Existenz Kapitel 1: Skizzen«, Oktogon, HfBK Dresden

                        »Aphrodisiac«, Galerie Evelyn Drewes, Hamburg

                        »Eberhard-Dietzsch-Kunstpreis«, Volksbank Gera

                        Rundgang, HGB Leipzig

2017               »Liebelei«, objekt klein a, Dresden, Germany

                        »The human aspect I + II – contemporary figurative positions«, Barlachhalle, Hamburg, Germany

                        »Mitten im Mai :: Malerei«, Kunstverein Sulzfeld

                        »The human aspect part II – contemporary figurative positions«, Galerie Ursula Walter, Dresden, Germany

                        »Klasse Klasse!!«, Tapetenwerk, Leipzig, Germany

                        »Seitenwechsel«, Galerie Leuenroth, Frankfurt/Main, Germany

                        Rundgang, HGB Leipzig, Germany

                        »Stadt Land Raum – collection Zander/Schürer«, Kunztraum, Dresden, Germany

2016                groupshow, Galerie Leuenroth, Frankfurt/Main, Germany

                         »Markt«, Kunztraum, Dresden, Germany

                         »Ich dachte, Sie wären nur ein armer Schlucker!«, KOMMUNALKA, Leipzig, Germany

                         »no3 Positur!«, ff15, Leipzig, Germany

                         »6 aus Dresden«, Hoffschild, Lübeck, Germany

 »My Heart´s in the Highlands«, Galerie junge zeitgenössische kunst, Chemnitz, Germany

             »Na dosah/Greifbar nah«, Kunstmuseum Galerie Cheb, Czech Republic

                         »Na dosah/Greifbar nah«, Kunstmuseum Galerie Plsen, Czech Republic

 2015               Bilder im Filmprojekt »24 Wochen« von Anne Zohra Berrached

 2014               »Santa Cloud«, galerie baer, Dresden, Germany 

                         »okay.whiteout«, Delikatessenhaus, Leipzig, Germany

                         »Postcards from the East«, APT Gallery, London, Great Britain

                        »Startpoint Prize«, DOX, Prague, Czech Republic

 »Diplomausstellung 2014«, HfBK Dresden, Germany

 »Dada TY«, HELLERAU – Europäisches Zentrum der Künste, Dresden, Germany

 »Mensch werde wesentlich«, KV Freunde Aktueller Kunst, Zwickau, Germany

 »Landschaften«, Galerie Poll, Berlin, Germany

 »inner cities«, Galerie Irrgang, Berlin, Germany

2013                »Wintercollective II«, Galerie Irrgang, Leipzig, Germany   

 »All Star Cast«, galerie baer, Dresden, Germany

               »Hype«, geh8, Dresden, Germany

2012                »Addition«, galerie baer, Dresden, Germany

              »Frühwerk«, F14, Dresden, Germany

                        »Keine Bilder ohne Liebe«, Galerie Poll, Berlin, Germany

                        »Kabinettausstellung«, Galerie Irrgang, Leipzig, Germany             

2011               »Frühjahrssalon«, Galerie ZanderKasten, Dresden, Germany

 »Wintercollective«, Galerie Irrgang, Leipzig, Germany

 »Kellerausstellung« Group ZWANZIGZEHN, Dresden, Germany

2010                »Seminar«, Galerie Irrgang, Leipzig, Germany

 Collections

New Masters Gallery of Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

Ostsächsische Sparkasse Dresden

PPZK Germany

Bibliography

Eva und Lothar C. Poll (publisher): Keine Bilder ohne Liebe; Druckerei Conrad; Berlin; 2012; ISBN: 978-3-931759-32-2

Galerie Irrgang GbR Leipzig/Berlin (Hrsg.): Eric Keller – Freizeittreff Fortschritt; Leipzig 2012

Diplomkatalog, HfBK Dresden, 2014

Torsten Klaus: Ödnis und Fülle; in Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten, 16.10.2014

Katja Lindenau: Die Wärme des November; in SAX 10/14, S. 27

Liane Wendt: Auf der Suche nach der inneren Ruhe – Eric Keller; in kunnst Sommer 2016, S. 14 bis 21

Wilhelm Werthern: Eric Keller – Künstler des Monats; in LE MONDE diplomatique, Deutsche Ausgabe, May 2016

Kulturkreis Sulzfeld/Galerie Leuenroth (publisher): Mitten im Mai; Lubok Verlag; Leipzig 2017; ISBN: 978-3-945111-36-9

Karl Kowalke (publisher): Liebelei; Dresden 2017

Patrick-Daniel Baer: Rupfen in fremden Gärten; 2017; www.cybersax.de

Patrick-Daniel Baer: Der Laptop, der auf einer Bank sitzt; in Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten, 28.05.2018

Christiane Meixner: Urbane Romantik – Eric Keller in der Galerie Poll; in Tagesspiegel, 23.07.2018

Eva und Lothar C. Poll (publisher): Abenteuer Kunst – 50 Jahre Galerie Poll; Katalogdruck-Berlin; Berlin; 2018; ISBN: 978-3-931-759-40-7

Annette Schröter (publisher): KONVOI – Annette Schröter und Meisterklasse; Pöge Druck, Leipzig 2018

Patrick-Daniel Baer: Der Heimat-Hirsch; in Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten, 28.03.2019

Patrick-Daniel Baer: Interference; in SAX, November 2019

Patrick-Daniel Baer: Hybride Verbindung; in DNN, 21.11.2019

Echo Licht, Ausgabe 2: Über das Feiern, Kulturheldenradio, 2020

Berliner Abendschau, rbb, 31.10.2020

Eric Keller's paintings show places and people, towns and landscapes, portraits. But it is not only about the copy of a place or a person but also about the observance of experienced moments, moods and sequences. No photographs but drawings and sketches but mostly the remembrance, the autobiographical memory of the artist build the motivic basis of the paintings.

As Eric Keller's earlier paintings are relatively detailed and concrete, his recent works show an increasingly formal generalisation and reduction. In the course of the cognitive process the detail is more and more losing its meaning. It is the nature of our memory, to reduce remembrances and to emotionally reproduce them, the works of Keller show this »homogenous toning« that coin the remembrances of our episodic memory. There are pale grey, ocher and brown shades that determine Keller's paintings. All image elements, even glaring spots, subordinate the holistic ductus. It is difficult to interpret the artist's use of colour emotionally right since the images leave a multilayered impression. What seems to be idyllic, threatens to immediately unmask as a wasteland. What happens to present itself as a nice impression develops to be a subtle, sober coping with the past. Many parts in the paintings of Eric Keller remind of 19th century romanticism painters. One finds the contrast between comfort and the simultaneous longing for remoteness. One unkennels the sheer infinite tranquility and vastness and the melancholy of contemplative moments.

Eric Keller needs time. His paintings experience changes in his studio and over-paintings over and over, many stages until the work is finalised. His brushstroke is crude, hence traces of overpainting remain present as artifacts. Varnished surfaces grant some insight onto the layers of paint underneath, over-paintings are partly done in a consciously rough manner. Most images are painted on MDF. The image carrier whose edges can be cut crudely, sometimes breaking, causes, in conjunction with the painting technique, an utterly rough but also authentic image aesthetic. The works nearly seem disconnected from time, they could originate from decades ago. This is accentuated by the lack of temporal allocation also.

Since the depictions seem to be remembrances of the artist, it seems easy to believe that Eric Keller is also part of the depicted moments. But the artist deprives from the depicted and obtains a distanced, analytical position. This position is instantly referred to the recipient of his works.

Keller's paintings are eventually fiction that show us an emotional possibility of the perception of reality.

Tilman Bruhn, 2015

translation: Marlen Tischer