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Michael Kessler (artist) (born October 23, 1954) is an American artist. He currently lives and works in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

File:Michael Kessler Artist Portrait.jpg

Artist, Michael Kessler

Art

Kessler makes nature-based paintings that merge geometric elements with Biomorphism. He began his art career as a landscape painter. While still an undergraduate at Kutztown University Kessler received a fellowship from the Whitney Museum of American Art to study and produce art in New York City at the Whitney Independent Study Program. During this period he met many important artist working in New York City including Richard Tuttle and Dorothea Rockburne. Influenced by the paintings of Brice Marden and Elizabeth Murray as well as the music of Phillip Glass and Steve Reich he began experimenting with his own work. His paintings soon became fully non-objective. Kessler's works are characterized by large fields of diaphanous color that are activated by organic linear structures that have been visually and physically woven into a grid structure which consists of thick slabs of paint. These organic linear structures are overlapped and punctuated by dentritic growth patterns that suggest the bending of time and space. All of these visual elements as well as the color combinations have been carefully extracted from Nature over time through prolonged observation and then reconstructed and orchestrated to transmit the dynamics of the Natural World. In this way Kessler synthesizes disperate elements into a new kind of harmony.

In 1991 after returning from a year in Italy (via. the Rome Prize) Kessler became very involved with large-scale, site-specific installations. Gallery owner Chris Schmidt (Schmidt/Dean Gallery, Philadelphia) worked with Kessler to initiate this project by obtaining a commission from Senator Arlen Specter for Kessler's first site-specific work which was installed in Senator Specter's office at the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C. In Chicago Kessler continued this pursuit with Gallery owner Paul Klein who also got involved with the placement of site-specific works in his gallery Klein Art Works.

Education

Bachelors of Fine Arts degree from Kutztown University.

Kessler attended the Independent Study Program at the Whitney Museum of American Art

Awards

Winner of the Rome Prize, 1991

Winner of the Award, 1992

Winner of the "Awards in the Visual Arts-5" grant in painting, 1985

Winner of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts grant in painting, 1983

Public Collections

His paintings are held in twenty five museum collections including:

The Brooklyn Museum

The Albright-Knox Art Gallery

The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston

The Broad Art Foundation in Los Angeles

The New Museum in New York City

Gallery Exhibtions

Since 1983 his paintings have been shown in over two hundred exhibitions throughout the United States and Europe.

Five solo shows at the Jack Tilton Gallery in New York City.

Solo Exhibition at the Ann Korologos Gallery in Basalt, Colorado (Gallery is owned by former Secretary of Labor, Ann Korologos).

Gallery Bienvenu, New Orleans, Louisiana

Madison Gallery, LaJolla, California

Paia Contemporary Gallery, Maui, Hawaii

SchmidtDean Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Lanoue Fine Art, Boston, Massachusetts

Sense Fine Art, Menlo Park, California

Critical Reviews

Kessler's paintings have been featured in numerous art publications

References

Video - A Painting in the Making

Inner Nature by Nancy Doll

New Work, New York, Outside New York at the New Museum

Geoform interview by Julie Karabenick

Art News review by Richard Speer

External links

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 == Art ==
-[http://www.geoform.net/features/features_kessler.html Kessler] makes nature-based paintings that merge [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geometric_abstraction geometric] elements with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomorphism Biomorphism]. He began his art career as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landscape_artlandscape landscape] painter. While still an undergraduate at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kutztown_University_of_Pennsylvania Kutztown University] Kessler received a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fellowship fellowship] from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitney_Museum_of_American_Art Whitney Museum of American Art] to study and produce art in New York City at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitney_Museum_of_American_Art#Independent_study_program Whitney Independent Study Program]. During this period he met many important artist working in New York City including [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Tuttle Richard Tuttle] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothea_Rockburne Dorothea Rockburne]. Influenced by the paintings of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brice_Marden Brice Marden] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Murray_(artist) Elizabeth Murray] as well as the music of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillip_Glass Phillip Glass] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Reich Steve Reich] he began experimenting with his own work. His paintings soon became fully [[non-objective]]. Kessler's works are characterized by large  fields of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaphanous diaphanous] color that are activated by organic linear structures that have been visually and physically woven into a grid structure which consists of thick slabs of paint. These organic linear structures are overlapped and punctuated by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendrite dentritic] growth patterns that suggest the bending of time and space. All of these visual elements as well as the color combinations have been carefully extracted from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature Nature] over time through prolonged observation and then reconstructed and orchestrated to transmit the dynamics of the Natural World. In this way Kessler synthesizes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature disperate] elements into a new kind of harmony.
+[http://www.geoform.net/features/features_kessler.html Kessler] makes nature-based paintings that merge [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geometric_abstraction geometric] elements with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomorphism Biomorphism]. He began his art career as a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landscape_artlandscape landscape] painter. While still an undergraduate at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kutztown_University_of_Pennsylvania Kutztown University] Kessler received a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fellowship fellowship] from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitney_Museum_of_American_Art Whitney Museum of American Art] to study and produce art in New York City at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitney_Museum_of_American_Art#Independent_study_program Whitney Independent Study Program]. During this period he met many important artist working in New York City including [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Tuttle Richard Tuttle] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothea_Rockburne Dorothea Rockburne]. Influenced by the paintings of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brice_Marden Brice Marden] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Murray_(artist) Elizabeth Murray] as well as the music of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillip_Glass Phillip Glass] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Reich Steve Reich] he began experimenting with his own work. His paintings soon became fully [[non-objective]]. Kessler's works are characterized by large  fields of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaphanous diaphanous] color that are activated by organic linear structures that have been visually and physically woven into a grid structure which consists of thick slabs of paint. These organic linear structures are overlapped and punctuated by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendrite dentritic] growth patterns that suggest the bending of time and space. All of these visual elements as well as the color combinations have been carefully extracted from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature Nature] over time through prolonged observation and then reconstructed and orchestrated to transmit the dynamics of the Natural World. In this way Kessler synthesizes [http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disparate disperate] elements into a new kind of harmony.
 In 1991 after returning from a year in Italy (via. the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Academy_in_Rome Rome Prize]) [http://www.geoform.net/features/features_kessler.html Kessler] became very involved with large-scale, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Site-specific_art site-specific] installations. Gallery owner Chris Schmidt ([http://www.schmidtdean.com/mk.html Schmidt/Dean Gallery, Philadelphia]) worked with Kessler to initiate this project by obtaining a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commission_(art) commission] from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arlen_Specter Senator Arlen Specter] for Kessler's first site-specific work which was installed in Senator Specter's office at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hart_Senate_Office_Building Hart Senate Office Building] in Washington, D.C. In Chicago Kessler continued this pursuit with Gallery owner [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Klein_(art_activist) Paul Klein] who also got involved with the placement of site-specific works in his gallery [http://www.michaelkessler.com/Klein.jpg Klein Art Works].