About

Dennis McKee was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in the spring of 1943. From the beginning, Dennis had a curious nature and love of learning that attracted him to art. Constantly reading and fascinated with the “World Book” encyclopedia, Dennis was especially interested in astronomy, biology, geography, motion pictures, and art. As a child, he spent hours at the St. Louis Art Museum, absorbing its rich collection of paintings.

Enthralled and thrilled by drawing from a young age, Dennis spent many hours copying comic books -- Bat Man, Superman, Nancy, Popeye -- for the sole purpose of reproducing them in his own hand.

By his junior year in high school Dennis had determined that he would pursue a career in advertising art. To that end he transferred to the St. Louis School District's only commercial art program where he completed high school. This specialized program provided Dennis with instruction from professional commercial artists. Dennis was consumed by his classes, and by his senior year he was working half days at a local design studio, fully committed to his budding art career.

After working in commercial art for several years, Dennis moved to California in 1973, attracted by the diversity of the landscape, climate and features of the natural world. In California Dennis had immediate access to the seashore, mountains, deserts, farmland, and urban environments, all serving to stimulate and inspire his work.

During these years while raising his family Dennis continued to work as a corporate graphic designer and art director in both Southern and Northern California. In 1985  he established his own graphic design studio in San Francisco, where he was also able to expand his focus on fine art. After retiring from his design business in 2010, Dennis devoted his full-time energies to fine art painting, primarily in oil and acrylic.

Particularly influential to Dennis's work was a visit in 2000 to the Ottawa National Museum's special exhibit of the “Canadian Group of Seven” whose work captured the natural world in a variety of uniquely compelling styles.  The Group’s on-site oil paintings were particularly inspiring to Dennis, as were his earlier viewings of the work of John Singer Sargent, Juan Baptista Sorolla.

Upon his return to California, Dennis initiated study with celebrated painter and instructor Elio Camacho, who helped Dennis to refine the fundamental techniques of painting outdoors. Exhibited in several major cities in the US, Elio had studied under Ovanes Berberian, who has carried on the Russian Impressionists tradition.

Since relocating to Madison, NJ in 2010, Dennis has pursued a self-directed art career, reading and studying fine art and completing various workshops. In addition to regular life drawing sessions, he also has been selected to participate in the annual “Publisher’s Invitational” week-long fine art painting workshops in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. He was most recently accepted to participate in the newest "Publishers Invitational" workshop in Acadia National Park in Maine in the fall of 2015.

Much of Dennis inspiration comes directly from nature. Painting outdoors "en plein air" allows him to experience the full range of colors that nature offers. Oil is his preferred medium. “I’ve tried many media, but nothing resonates with me like oil. Its versatility lends itself to broad statements or minute detail,” he said.

Broad, bold brushstrokes are the hallmark of Dennis’ style, with colors sometimes exaggerated and shapes simplified to most effectively engage his audiences. “My experience and vision have led me to strive for an intense emotional interpretation of my subjects, most of which derive from nature,” he said.

In New Jersey Dennis has been very involved with the local art scene, as a Board member of the Madison Arts and Culture Alliance, and an active member of Studio Montclair in Montclair and the Center for Contemporary Art in Bedminster, exhibiting his paintings in various shows through these organizations.