Community “I wanted to rip the mask off the signifier and just deal with the signified,” said the cartoonist-turned-painter who depicts a cosmology of American identity and activism.

May 12, 2026 — 10 min read

Keith Mayerson in his studio in California (photo Andrew Madrid, courtesy the artist)

LOS ANGELES — Keith Mayerson drops into any conversation with intensity, referencing athletes, the Beach Boys, Roland Barthes, and Paul Cézanne in long breathless sentences. The Los Angeles-based artist is best known for his ongoing cosmology of paintings that make up the My American Dream series, often presented in “chapters” and drawing from a combination of his own photographs and found photography. Begun in the aftermath of 9/11, the paintings depict an omnivorous personal pantheon of heroes.

I recall his work in the 2014 Whitney Biennial: a salon-style, floor-to-ceiling corner installation at the Breuer building.…