Disaster Selfie: Liking and Sharing the Climate Breakdown
A Provocative New Series of Paintings by Casey McKee at The National Arts Club
Opening Night: March 7th, 2025 at The National Arts Club, New York
New York, NY – Casey McKee is set to unveil his latest solo exhibition, Disaster Selfie, at The National Arts club, opening on March 7th and running through April 4th, 2025.
In a new series of oil paintings, Germany-based American artist Casey McKee has created an unsettling juxtaposition of human behavior and (un)natural catastrophe. Each canvas depicts individuals taking selfies or snapshots of each other, their faces lit with practiced smiles and their postures frozen in moments of curated perfection, while behind them, chaos unfolds. Raging wildfires consume forests and houses, hurricanes leave a landscape of destruction, and tornadoes twist ominously across the horizon. Yet the figures in the foreground remain oblivious, their attention consumed by the screens in their hands, the promise of digital fiefdom outweighing the urgency of the disaster that looms around them
“Our fixation on social media and self-image has become a form of operant conditioning,” says McKee. “These paintings reflect the ways technology has reshaped human behavior, encouraging distraction rather than meaningful engagement with reality.”
Casey McKee is an American artist who has been based in Germany for the past twenty years. His artwork often explores themes of power, history, and human nature, with a distinctive narrative quality.
The exhibition will open with a reception on March 7th from 6 to 8pm , where visitors will have the opportunity to meet Casey and engage with his work firsthand. Admission is free and open to the public.
