John Keane was born in
Harpenden,
Hertfordshire,
England. He was educated at
Wellington College (1968–72) and
Camberwell School of Art (1972–76). He is a political painter, whose subjects often concern contentious political, social and military issues. In 1990, the
Imperial War Museum commissioned him as an
official war artist in the
Gulf War. 2001–02, he exhibited paintings which were derived from an expedition with
Greenpeace during their campaign in the
Amazon against
illegal logging. In 2004, he toured his show,
The Inconvenience of History, internationally. This was based on trips in liaison with
Christian Aid to the
West Bank and
Gaza Strip. In November 2019, along with other public figures, Keane signed a letter supporting
Labour Party leader
Jeremy Corbyn describing him as "a beacon of hope in the struggle against emergent far-right nationalism, xenophobia and racism in much of the democratic world" and endorsed him in the
2019 UK general election. He is a visiting research fellow at
Camberwell College of Arts. ==Residencies and commissions==