Keith Sonnier studied art and anthropology at the University of Southwestern Louisiana (B.F.A., 1963) and then spent a period of time painting in Paris. Upon his return to the United States, he attended Rutgers University (M.F.A., 1966) and then moved to New York.

Sonnier has investigated the nature of systems of communications from pictographs to electronics. His interest in anthropology, the traditions of primitive cultures and how they function, has led him to explore the ritualistic uses of language as well as its mythic potential. Concern with sensations (sound, touch and so forth) has led him to execute pieces in a broad range of materials, among them metal, fabric, including silk and cheesecloth, paper, and rubber, utilizing both wall and floor planes to explore his ideas for sculpture. Since the late 1960s he has worked in neon and video as well. Sonnier's investigations in the process of communication have also led him to structure environments by means of installation pieces dominated bysound and light.

In 1981 Sonnier worked in Ahmedbad, India, completing two groups of pieces: the Rangoli series of painted aluminum works and the Dom-Basor series, constructed of painted bamboo. Sonnier's work at Gemini has included lithographs, screenprints, and works in hand-cast paper, as well as two versions of a stereo LP record, "Air to Air," documenting a connection supplied by WATS telephone lines – Side A, from New York to Los Angeles, and Side B, from Los Angeles to New York.

Sonnier received a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship in 1974. His exhibitions include those organized by Douglass College, New Brunswick, New Jersey (1966); Stedlijk van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (1970); Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre George Pomidou, Paris (1979); Portland Center for the Visual Arts (1981); and P.S. 1, Long Island City, New York (1983).