(970) 927-9668
Michael Kessler is based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Kessler’s work honors the inner dynamics of the natural world through his large-scale, multi-layered panels. Kessler evolved his landscape paintings towards abstraction, focusing on the cause-and-effect of nature, capturing not the tree, but the texture of the bark; not the river, but the shape of erosion. His process of layering marks and skins are built up to reveal the passage of time and its own creation.
ARTIST STATEMENT
I’ve been a painter-of-the-forest all of my life. As a young teen I walked the woods with sketchbook in hand drawing trees and branches in the sunlight. During the 45 years that I’ve been painting since then I’ve developed a complex painting process that involves layering transparent and translucent veils of color over carefully textured surfaces. The structure of the forest continues to provide me with interesting compositions in which to employ my layering process. Tree-trunks and branches lend themselves to rich patterns of overlaps and eclipses. The negative/positive shapes that present themselves within the matrix of branches create a rhythmic orchestra of movement and vibration. I continually discover new combinations of possibilities within these parameters and I’m sure I won’t exhaust the infinite potential of the forest paintings anytime soon. ~Michael Kessler
To inquire about his work, please email art@korologosgallery.com, call 970.927.9668, or visit Ann Korologos Gallery at 211 Midland Avenue, Basalt, Colorado.
