Casey McKee
Social Silence

His works have been exhibited worldwide and included in collections, including at the Space K Museum in Seoul, South Korea; at the Moscow Biennale in Russia; and at the Neue Galerie at the Landesmuseum Joanneum in Graz, Austria.  

He works with oil paint on canvas, and his works are mostly critiques of power structures and social norms. He often uses humor or absurdity as a way to approach the themes he explores. McKee has spent most of his professional career in Berlin. Today he lives in a small village in the German countryside. 

Work Title: Social Silence

The Disaster Selfie series highlights how social media, capitalist logic, and the desire for digital recognition divert our attention from real crises, turning even destruction into a backdrop for self-promotion. The depicted discrepancy between a perfect pose and a real threat reveals how distraction, environmental destruction, and human greed interact. The work thus asks what is lost when attention becomes a commodity. Yet people’s attention is fixed on their screens; they chase after digital recognition while the real world is going up in flames.

In his painting Social Silence, Casey McKee depicts a surreal beach scene set against the backdrop of an oil rig. With both humor and a critical eye, the work reflects on social power structures, environmental issues, and the consequences of human intervention in landscapes—including the transformation of former lignite mining regions in Lusatia.