Steve Keene has made a name for himself as a democratizer of contemporary art, and his work appears in literally thousands of rock clubs, bars, coffee shops, and private collections. Inspired by friends in underground rock, Keene mass-produces paintings and sells them at very low cost. “I want buying my paintings to be like buying a CD,” he has said. “It’s cheap, it’s art and it changes your life, but the object has no status.” Keene provided the cover art for Pavement’s 1995 indie rock classic Wowee Zowee and has worked with numerous other bands, such as Soul Coughing and the Dave Matthews Band.

In the 1990s, Keene was a volunteer DJ at UVA radio station WTJU. One of the station’s traditions is to offer a unique t-shirt design as a thank-you gift for each of its on-air fundraisers, with the art often provided by a notable musician. (For example, Robyn Hitchcock, Jon Langford, and Daniel Johnston have all contributed designs.) In 2015, WTJU asked Keene if he would provide a design for that year’s Rock Marathon. He immediately agreed and sent the station twenty-nine acrylic-on-wood paintings. For an artist who typically makes his original paintings in assembly-line fashion, the painting of twenty-nine unique designs is a rare occasion, and a testament to Keene’s affection for WTJU.

Want one (or 6) for yourself?