ANT KEOGH
Ant Keogh is a contemporary artist living in Melbourne, Australia.
A painter, writer, film maker and musician, his work explores themes of childhood, suburbia, nature, memory, love, death, fear, spirituality, heaven, hell, transcendence, dreams, surrealism, ritual, religion, humour, humiliation, marketing, propaganda, commerce, music, and urban culture.
He creates works in oil, acrylic, pencil, ink on wood, canvas & cardboard and also film, music, and elements of performance.
Working largely from the subconscious, his paintings & drawings utilise symbolism, iconography, narrative elements, and veiled meaning.
​
Film, music & performance:
​
​Funkuncle.com is an ongoing musical/video project dating back to 2002.
The work concerns itself with the chronicling of the Funkuncle Dynasty. The visual and written diaries of patriarch, 80 year old Edward J. Funkuncle, a writer, artist, war veteran, and his family - particularly his three sons, Henry P. Funkuncle and Calvin E. Funkuncle and Edward Funkuncle Jnr.
​
Initially, it began as a HTML web-based 'diary', utilising and exploiting simple web design 'roll-over' buttons with quirky navigation (this pre-dated video on the web). As online bandwidth grew, more media was utilised. It now embraces traditional & A.I. film making fused with electronic and traditional musical elements as well as visual and written historical biography.
On The Funkuncle Diaries - by Ant Keogh​
"I first met Edward J.Funkuncle (Snr.) in 2001, London, England. Originally hailing from the Bronx, New York, Edward Funkuncle is a Vietnam veteran, writer and artist."
​
​
"Mr Funkuncle fascinated me from the first meeting and I soon became his faithful assistant, transcribing what was to become the ‘Funkuncle Diaries’.
In 2002, I began to transfer his stories, drawings, musings, and philosophies into a simple website - Chapter one of original 2002 html website - (keep in mind this was well before YouTube and social media existed). The site was minimalist and utilised simple ‘roll over’ buttons to create primitive animations of his drawings and photographs and text. There were no instructions - one clickable pic led to the next, sometimes revealing unexpected 'easter eggs' (though they weren't called easter eggs yet).
​
Only later would I meet his three sons; Calvin, Henry, and, finally, Edward Jnr: the film director and singer featured on funkuncle.com. "
Film: Keogh's feature length screenplay, The Pinkerton Principal, won first place at the prestigious Final Draft competition (USA) in 2015. He has written and directed many short films (Vimeo link) and created several short animation films since 1995 and worked extensively in the commercial film and advertising industry. His film shorts tend to echo common themes in his paintings and drawings, often utilising surreal imagery (see Leachman or 13 Secret Herbs and Spices : link) but just as often, straight forward playfulness and humour. He has also, on occasion, acted in mainstream films such as the popular Australian film, Kenny (2006), by director, Clayton Jacobson and several of (satirist) John Safran's TV series, such as 'John Safran's Musical Jamboree' and even an episode of Around The Twist, a popular ABC childrens' program.
Some paintings are available for purchase - store coming soon - email us! ​
