Last month, on a trip to Denver, I went to see my first concert at red rocks, an outdoor venue 10 miles outside of town famous for the towering rock structure that surrounds the amphitheater. We were there because my husband wanted to see King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, an Australian psychedelic rock band; I did not expect to see art.
Then, between the daytime show and the evening set, I spotted a colorful canvas on an easel next to a small tree to the left of the yard. Intrigued – and with about five hours until King Gizzard’s next set – I went to have a look.
The colorful painting had captured the afternoon performance in loose, flowing brushstrokes, and was signed by the band members. There was a second blank canvas to the side, a few thick palettes of acrylic paint drips, and chatting to other onlookers a few yards away, a man covered in telltale brushstrokes on his pants.
This, I soon learned, was Keith “Scramble” Campbella local resident who has been Red Rocks’ self-proclaimed artist-in-residence since 2000, painting live at up to 40 shows a year.
King Gizzard performing at Red Rocks Amphitheater outside of Denver. Photo: Sarah Cascone.
“I’m buying a ticket like you, and the staff let me bring my paintings and my stuff,” Campbell told Artnet News.
Security will also inform musical acts that they are immortalized on canvas, and many of them are excited to meet the artist and see his work. This is how he had met the musicians of King Gizzard the previous year and got to know the band, hence the signings.
Keith “Scramble” Campbell’s painting furnishes the amphitheater outside of Denver. Photo: Sarah Cascone.
“I love showing them what they just inspired,” Campbell added. “They just come off stage and they’re like, ‘Oh wow, that’s a canvas dance.'”
Sometimes the group even buys the original painting, which Campbell usually sells for $3,000 to $8,000.
The artist began studying computer graphics at the Tampa Technical Institute for Commercial Art in the 1980s, learning what he described as “more professional design stuff.”
Painting by Keith “Scramble” Campbell of King Gizzard performing at the Red Rocks Amphitheater outside of Denver. Photo: Sarah Cascone.
He was inspired to start painting live music in Leroy Neiman, who made a name for himself and made a living capturing sporting events. “Instead of being in the art world, I’m in the music world,” Campbell said. “I used to go everywhere.”
Now he mostly sticks to Red Rocks, painting rain or shine. Last month, for example, Campbell suffered a heavy downpour during a Billy Strings concertproducing an evocative canvas despite the hostile elements, with paint literally dripping onto the bottom.
Keith “Scramble” Campbell with his painting of King Gizzard performing at the Red Rocks Amphitheater outside of Denver. Photo: Sarah Cascone.
“The totality [area] was ankle-deep in water,” he recalls. “But I learned a long time ago that you don’t fight with Mother Nature, you have to collaborate.”
When planning her concert appearance, Campbell tends to look to “old school acts”. Among the highlights of his 23 years of work, he painted “BB King, Fats Domino, Herbie Hancock – all old jazz players”, he said. “I’ve been doing this kind of music for 30 years, so I’ve done a thousand different acts.”
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