Gallery Talk: Keith Mayerson

Museum of Contemporary Art Denver

An in-gallery conversation with exhibiting artist Keith Mayerson.

Exhibition-Inspired Programs

Programs related to MCA Denver's summer exhibition, "Colorado Currents," on view from July 24, 2026, through November 1, 2026.

Join artist Keith Mayerson for a conversation about his work in MCA Denver’s current exhibition, <a href="https://mcadenver.org/exhibitions/colorado-currents" title="https://mcadenver.org/exhibitions/colorado-currents" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Colorado Currents</a>. Often inspired by symbols of American history, pop culture, and personal experiences, Mayerson will share the influences behind his paintings and sculptures on view at MCA Denver.Please note that our café &amp; bar will be closed during this event.

About the ArtistKeith Mayerson (b. 1966, Cincinnati; lives and works in Riverside, California) grew up in Greenwood Village, a suburb of Denver. He is inspired by symbols of American history and pop culture, and depicts familiar figures who have impacted the country’s consciousness, in addition to personal scenes and his abstract ​“iconscapes.” His work allegorizes themes of resilience, determination, and the ​“American dream.” Iconic images, heroes, places, and events are rendered luminous and transcendent through Mayerson’s micro-managed brushwork and coloring. His subjects are often selected for their backstories and cultural impact; in Mayerson’s paintings, they embody contemporary national feelings and sentiments. While his formal features hint at a French Impressionist influence, his images could be seen to recall the work of Symbolists in their spiritual components, cultural commentary, and review, in addition to being inspired by the more visionary aspects of American Modernists and the Old Masters.Keith Mayerson studied Semiotics and Studio Art at Brown University and received an MFA from the University of California, Irvine and is now Professor of Art at the Roski School of Art and Design at the University of Southern California. Mayerson’s work was prominently featured in the Cleveland Museum of Contemporary Art with a solo show My American Dream, the 2014 Whitney Biennial (where the Love Triumphant (James Dean in a Tree) also appeared), and the Whitney Museum’s inaugural downtown show, America is Hard to See and in the current Whitney show (through January 2026) Shifting Landscapes. His recent solo exhibitions include Karma, Los Angeles and New York (2024); Elaine de Kooning House Foundation, East Hampton (2019); Marlborough Gallery, New York (2019); and the Bridge, Bridgehampton (2019). He had a solo exhibition My American Dream: Rocky Mountain High, at the Aspen Museum in Colorado in 2026.His graphic novel Horror Hospital Unplugged, a collaboration with the writer Dennis Cooper, is well known among graphic artists and the queer community. Mayerson is currently creating a graphic-novel biography of James Dean to be published by Fantagraphics and was co-editor of the recently acclaimed Frank Johnson: Secret Pioneer of American Comics Vol. 1 book from the same publisher in 2023; the second volume is forthcoming in 2026.

Gallery Talk: Keith Mayerson

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Gallery Talk: Keith Mayerson

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Museum of Contemporary Art Denver

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