ODU ALUM'S PHOTOGRAPHY PART OF NEW EXHIBITION

An Old Dominion University engineering graduate who became an artist is coming "home" for a show of his photographs at the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia (CAC).

Kim Keever, who graduated from the Batten College of Engineering and Technology in 1976, embarked on a career as an artist in New York City. He currently lives in Manhattan.

Using synthetic materials, Keever creates landscape imagery in 200-gallon aquarium tanks that he then photographs. His work will be on display from July 21 through Dec. 30 at the CAC, and the artist will introduce and discuss his photography during a reception from 6-8 p.m. July 21 at the gallery, 2200 Parks Ave. in Virginia Beach.

Keever said his art is the result of him becoming "bored" with his own paintings. "I basically continued making landscapes, but instead of putting paint on canvas, I was pouring liquid pigment into water with sculpted plaster models resting on the bottom of aquariums," he said. "Photography was not a brand-new art form to me, and because I had a lot of experience making sculpture, everything just came together in a very good way."

"Our entire staff was enamored by Keever's work from the moment we saw the images," said Ragan McManus, director of exhibitions and education at the CAC. "His combination of artistic processes that brings about an artificially constructed landscape that dually comments on larger environmental issues about our real, tangible environment is intriguing."

McManus also calls Keever's work a provider of "teachable moments" in the artistic community.

Keever has been featured in more than 25 solo exhibitions, and as part of another 60 group shows. At the CAC show, his work will be displayed with that of two other artists similar in approach, Jean-Pierre Roy and Sayaka Suzuki.

Keever grew up on Virginia's Eastern Shore and lived in the Norfolk area for 10 years before relocating to New York.

In addition to the Virginia Beach exhibition, Keever's work will be showcased at the Museum of Art and Design in New York City, the Hunterdon Museum of Art in Clifton, N.J., and the "25 American Artists" show at the Gyeongnam Art Museum in South Korea.