Michael Kessler Paintings

Michael Kessler often describes his process in musical terms, likening his approach to improvisational jazz, where themes and motifs emerge and evolve organically. His paintings are ...

Contemporary gestural purple, blue, and cream abstract painting by American artist Michael Kessler. The work consists of many very thin layers of paint that are built up to reveal th...

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 Universi...

Michael Kessler’s work explores the continuum between gesture and geometry. Each work consists of as many as 50 micro-thin layers of translucent and transparent acrylic. Biomorphic tendrils branch to and fro, while arcs of line and color slip over and under matrices, balancing nature’s sinuous curves with the mindfulness of structure. He likens the gestural freedom in his works to a kind of painterly “tai chi” – a...

Michael Kessler makes nature-based paintings that merge geometric elements with biomorphism. He began his art career as a landscape painter. While 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. Michael Kessler’s work explores the continuum between gesture and geometry. Each work consists of as many as 50 micro-thin layers of translucent and transparent acrylic. Biomorphic tendrils branch to and fro, while arcs of line and color slip over and under matrices, balancing nature’s sinuous curves with the mindfulness of structure. He likens the gestural freedom in his works to a kind of painterly “tai chi” – a...

Kessler's use of geometry is not bound to rigid mathematical systems; rather, it serves as a vessel for expressive improvisation, much like a jazz composition. The geometric elements...

Acrylic on canvas

Michael Kessler makes nature-based paintings that merge geometric elements with biomorphism. He began his art career as a landscape painter. While 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. Michael Kessler’s work explores the continuum between gesture and geometry. Each work consists of as many as 50 micro-thin layers of translucent and transparent acrylic. Biomorphic tendrils branch to and fro, while arcs of line and color slip over and under matrices, balancing nature’s sinuous curves with the mindfulness of structure. He likens the gestural freedom in his works to a kind of painterly “tai chi” – a...

Kessler's use of geometry is not bound to rigid mathematical systems; rather, it serves as a vessel for expressive improvisation, much like a jazz composition. The geometric elements...

Acrylic on panel.

Acrylic on panel.