(970) 927-9668
Ann Korologos Gallery presents Nature’s Patterns: Michael Kessler & Michael Wisner, a dimensional two-artist exhibition exploring the architecture of surfaces through the abstract mixed media panels of Michael Kessler and the ceramic forms carved with nature’s geometry by Michael Wisner. The exhibition is on view December 3, 2021 through January 4, 2022 at Ann Korologos Gallery in historic downtown Basalt, CO and virtually at korologosgallery.com.
The landscapes before us never appear the same way twice. On one hand, external elements like light, water, wind, time are constantly working the land, changing its surface and creating patterns and textures of visual impact, changes explored through the mixed media art of Michael Kessler. On the other hand, nature is always growing, changing, and evolving, displaying patterns of sacred geometry such as the Fibonacci Spiral; the Golden mean ratio; the flower of life, which are displayed in nature’s structure. Michael Wisner witnesses these mathematical patterns in nature’s flora, in the petals of a lotus or dahlia, the center of a sunflower, the leaves of an artichoke, the scales of a pinecone, or the path of a wandering river, and carves them into clay.
Michael Kessler is based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Kessler’s work honors the inner dynamics of the natural world. Kessler has evolved his landscape paintings towards abstraction, focusing on the cause-and-effect of nature, painting not the tree, but the texture of the bark; not the river, but the patterns of erosion. In his latest series, revealed in this exhibition, Kessler utilizes the fluidity of water, colored with pigment, to explore the evolution and balance of the natural world.
Michael Wisner is based in the Roaring Fork Valley of Colorado. Wisner’s hand-coiled ceramics are formed from local, hand-dug, hand-made clay from local sources in locales like Snowmass and Woody Creek, a method he learned over a 15-year mentorship with artist Juan Quezada. Wisner allows his spirit to draw him towards small moments on hikes—stopping to study the patterns of a pinecone, weavings, seed pods or a wandering river—and taking that curiosity back to his studio in Woody Creek to recreate three dimensional patterns in clay with tools he makes himself. The artist meticulously carves each pot with patterns of sacred geometry observed in nature and translated to clay.
Nature’s Patterns: Michael Kessler & Michael Wisner is on view December 2, 2021 through January 4, 2022 ‘under the clocktower’ in historic downtown Basalt and virtually at korologosgallery.com. For questions, hours or private viewing times, please call (970) 927-9668, email art@korologosgallery.com, or visit korologosgallery.com.
