[6] Keyes' work has been described as "a satirical look at the impact urban sprawl has on the environment and surmises, with the aid of scientific slices and core samples, what could happen if we continue to infiltrate and encroach on our rural surroundings.
[4] Keyes' style is reminiscent of the diagrammatic vocabulary found in scientific textbook illustrations that often express through a detached and clinical viewpoint an empirical representation of the natural world.
Assembled into this virtual stage set are references to contemporary events along with images and themes from his personal mythology.
His work is a hybrid of eco-surrealism and dystopia that express a concern and anxiety for our time and the Earth's future.
[8][9] Keyes' public mural Treadmill (2006), is painted on the side of the Locust Street Garage in Walnut Creek, California.