Keith Mantell was raised on Long Island. As a child and young adult, taking painting lessons with many local artists including Cara Cohen, Gerald Fairclough and Alfred Van Loen, he began a lifelong love and career with art.This led to an education in the arts with a B.F.A. from SUNY New Paltz where he studied with Hoffmann disciple Alex Minewski and post graduate courses at The National Academy School of Fine Arts in New York and C.W. Post College. After a stint at Sotheby’s and managing a gallery in Southampton for 10 years, it was time to get back to the creative side. Becoming a full time artist in 2007 and living the dream has proven to be the right choice . “As a contemporary realist inspired by the likes of Manet and Sargent, I use reality as a starting point and try to capture the essence of a particular scene. Design first! Then breaking down the landscape or still life into forms and color that work together to form an interesting and cohesive composition. Taking the natural light into consideration I then let the paint decide how it wants to flow. The painting becomes its own thing. That premise has roots in the abstract expressionist idea that it’s not about the image but about what the paint can convey. Sometimes all it takes is one brushstroke to make the point. The color may not be exactly true to life and elements may flow together but the goal is to make a fresh and spontaneous painting.” Now living on Long Island’s East End, the natural beauty of the area has inspired a series of ‘en plein air’ paintings of local genre including vineyards, farm fields, and the rugged coastline. “I want to capture all of these places before we lose them.”