Michael Kessler Abstract Paintings
American, b. 1954
Michael 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 (1977–78) he met many important artists 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 dendritic growth patterns that suggest the bending of time and space. 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 disparate 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 Arlen Specter for Kessler's first sitespecific 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 sitespecific works in his gallery Klein Art Works. In 1993-95 Kessler taught art at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. During the 90s Kessler worked with Brenda Kroos in Cleveland, Ohio. He had several exhibitions there and many of his paintings were placed in corporate and private collections in the Cleveland area.(Biography provided by Judy Ferrara Gallery)
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Artist: Michael Kessler
Birchband
By Michael Kessler
Located in San Luis Obispo, CA
Michael Kessler was born in 1954 in Hanover, Pennsylvania and had his first art show in 1080. His abstract art awards include the Rome Prize for Painting from the American Academy in Rome in 1990 and the Pollock/Krasner Award in Painting. His modern artwork has been widely exhibited in the US and abroad via international and national galleries, and has been featured in over 150 SOLO exhibitions since 1983. Michael Kessler’s abstract contemporary paintings are widely collected and appear in over 20 museum collections in the US, including the Brooklyn Museum in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Appearances are deceptive, and anyone who is interested in the true nature of the universe knows that there are far more questions than answers. The more we know, the more we know we don’t know. I want my paintings to reflect both the desire to know and the futility of trying to know. I’m building a surface and not so much an image. I see my work as a metaphor for nature – about wondering how it (nature) got that way, realizing that we may never find out. I’m interested in beauty, but not a superficial or superfluous beauty – something deeper. It is daunting, but if you go through the forest at night...
Category
2010s Abstract Geometric Michael Kessler Abstract Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Sky Graph 13
By Michael Kessler
Located in San Luis Obispo, CA
This beautiful slice of abstract geometric art can hang horizontally or vertically in a small space alone or with a grouping. The bright colors are the perfect pop of color for your ...
Category
2010s Abstract Michael Kessler Abstract Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Sky Graph 5
By Michael Kessler
Located in San Luis Obispo, CA
This beautiful slice of abstract geometric art can hang horizontally or vertically in a small space alone or with a grouping. The bright colors are the perfect pop of color for your ...
Category
2010s Abstract Geometric Michael Kessler Abstract Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Tree diptych
By Michael Kessler
Located in Three Oaks, MI
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 Univer...
Category
20th Century Abstract Geometric Michael Kessler Abstract Paintings
Materials
Acrylic, Panel
Stratspheris
By Michael Kessler
Located in San Luis Obispo, CA
Michael Kessler was born in 1954 in Hanover, Pennsylvania and had his first art show in 1080. His abstract art awards include the Rome Prize for Painting from the American Academy in Rome in 1990 and the Pollock/Krasner Award in Painting. His modern artwork has been widely exhibited in the US and abroad via international and national galleries, and has been featured in over 150 SOLO exhibitions since 1983. Michael Kessler’s abstract contemporary paintings are widely collected and appear in over 20 museum collections in the US, including the Brooklyn Museum in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Appearances are deceptive, and anyone who is interested in the true nature of the universe knows that there are far more questions than answers. The more we know, the more we know we don’t know. I want my paintings to reflect both the desire to know and the futility of trying to know. I’m building a surface and not so much an image. I see my work as a metaphor for nature – about wondering how it (nature) got that way, realizing that we may never find out. I’m interested in beauty, but not a superficial or superfluous beauty – something deeper. It is daunting, but if you go through the forest at night...
Category
2010s Abstract Michael Kessler Abstract Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Skygraphs 13
By Michael Kessler
Located in San Luis Obispo, CA
Michael Kessler was born in 1954 in Hanover, Pennsylvania and had his first art show in 1080. His abstract art awards include the Rome Prize for Painting from the American Academy in...
Category
2010s Abstract Michael Kessler Abstract Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Barkbeats 3
By Michael Kessler
Located in San Luis Obispo, CA
Michael Kessler was born in 1954 in Hanover, Pennsylvania and had his first art show in 1080. His abstract art awards include the Rome Prize for Painting from the American Academy in...
Category
2010s Abstract Michael Kessler Abstract Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Barkbeats 4
By Michael Kessler
Located in San Luis Obispo, CA
Michael Kessler was born in 1954 in Hanover, Pennsylvania and had his first art show in 1080. His abstract art awards include the Rome Prize for Painting from the American Academy in...
Category
2010s Abstract Michael Kessler Abstract Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Skygraphs 5
By Michael Kessler
Located in San Luis Obispo, CA
Michael Kessler was born in 1954 in Hanover, Pennsylvania and had his first art show in 1080. His abstract art awards include the Rome Prize for Painting from the American Academy in...
Category
2010s Abstract Michael Kessler Abstract Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Skygraphs 6
By Michael Kessler
Located in San Luis Obispo, CA
Michael Kessler was born in 1954 in Hanover, Pennsylvania and had his first art show in 1080. His abstract art awards include the Rome Prize for Painting from the American Academy in...
Category
2010s Abstract Michael Kessler Abstract Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Aspenized A2
By Michael Kessler
Located in San Luis Obispo, CA
Michael Kessler was born in 1954 in Hanover, Pennsylvania and had his first art show in 1080. His abstract art awards include the Rome Prize for Painting from the American Academy in...
Category
2010s Abstract Michael Kessler Abstract Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Seabands
By Michael Kessler
Located in San Luis Obispo, CA
Michael Kessler was born in 1954 in Hanover, Pennsylvania and had his first art show in 1080. His abstract art awards include the Rome Prize for Painting from the American Academy in...
Category
2010s Abstract Michael Kessler Abstract Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Aspeniced
By Michael Kessler
Located in San Luis Obispo, CA
Michael Kessler was born in 1954 in Hanover, Pennsylvania and had his first art show in 1080. His abstract art awards include the Rome Prize for Painting from the American Academy in...
Category
2010s Abstract Michael Kessler Abstract Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic
Half-Full
By Michael Kessler
Located in San Luis Obispo, CA
Michael Kessler was born in 1954 in Hanover, Pennsylvania and had his first art show in 1080. His abstract art awards include the Rome Prize for Painting from the American Academy in...
Category
2010s Abstract Michael Kessler Abstract Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Birchgroves 21
By Michael Kessler
Located in San Luis Obispo, CA
Michael Kessler was born in 1954 in Hanover, Pennsylvania and had his first art show in 1080. His abstract art awards include the Rome Prize for Painting from the American Academy in...
Category
2010s Abstract Michael Kessler Abstract Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Revealed
By Michael Kessler
Located in San Luis Obispo, CA
Michael Kessler was born in 1954 in Hanover, Pennsylvania and had his first art show in 1080. His abstract art awards include the Rome Prize for Painting from the American Academy in...
Category
2010s Abstract Michael Kessler Abstract Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Focus Fields
By Michael Kessler
Located in San Luis Obispo, CA
Michael Kessler was born in 1954 in Hanover, Pennsylvania and had his first art show in 1080. His abstract art awards include the Rome Prize for Painting from the American Academy in...
Category
2010s Abstract Michael Kessler Abstract Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Clarification
By Michael Kessler
Located in San Luis Obispo, CA
Michael Kessler was born in 1954 in Hanover, Pennsylvania and had his first art show in 1080. His abstract art awards include the Rome Prize for Painting from the American Academy in...
Category
2010s Abstract Michael Kessler Abstract Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Birchbands 2
By Michael Kessler
Located in San Luis Obispo, CA
Michael Kessler was born in 1954 in Hanover, Pennsylvania and had his first art show in 1080. His abstract art awards include the Rome Prize for Painting from the American Academy in...
Category
2010s Abstract Michael Kessler Abstract Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Birchgroves 23
By Michael Kessler
Located in San Luis Obispo, CA
Michael Kessler was born in 1954 in Hanover, Pennsylvania and had his first art show in 1080. His abstract art awards include the Rome Prize for Painting from the American Academy in...
Category
2010s Abstract Michael Kessler Abstract Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Bluebirch
By Michael Kessler
Located in San Luis Obispo, CA
Michael Kessler was born in 1954 in Hanover, Pennsylvania and had his first art show in 1080. His abstract art awards include the Rome Prize for Painting from the American Academy in...
Category
2010s Abstract Michael Kessler Abstract Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Birchonapsen
By Michael Kessler
Located in New Orleans, LA
Acrylic on canvas
Category
2010s Abstract Michael Kessler Abstract Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
MEDIANIC
By Michael Kessler
Located in Three Oaks, MI
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...
Category
2010s Abstract Geometric Michael Kessler Abstract Paintings
Materials
Acrylic, Panel
Emerald Pools (21)
By Michael Kessler
Located in Three Oaks, MI
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...
Category
2010s Abstract Geometric Michael Kessler Abstract Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Jillidu
By Michael Kessler
Located in Three Oaks, MI
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...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Geometric Michael Kessler Abstract Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Untitled
By Michael Kessler
Located in Buffalo, NY
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...
Category
1980s Abstract Michael Kessler Abstract Paintings
Materials
Oil, Paper, Wood
Grill 11
By Michael Kessler
Located in New Orleans, LA
Acrylic on panel.
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Michael Kessler Abstract Paintings
Treeclips 14
By Michael Kessler
Located in New Orleans, LA
Acrylic on panel.
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Michael Kessler Abstract Paintings
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Michael Kessler abstract paintings for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Michael Kessler abstract paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. If you’re browsing the collection of abstract paintings to introduce a pop of color in a neutral corner of your living room or bedroom, you can find work that includes elements of red and other colors. You can also browse by medium to find art by Michael Kessler in paint, acrylic paint, synthetic resin paint and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 21st century and contemporary and is mostly associated with the abstract style. Not every interior allows for large Michael Kessler abstract paintings, so small editions measuring 11 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Michael Marlowe, Susan Sharp, and Shingo Francis. Michael Kessler abstract paintings prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $1,200 and tops out at $15,000, while the average work can sell for $8,500.