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Michael Kessler
Paintings
Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, NY
September 8 - October 3, 1990
Generations have trod, have trod, have
trod;
And all is. seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil; And wears
man's smudge and shares
man's smell: the soil Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
-Gerard Manley Hopkins,
God’s Grondeur
Although Michael Kessler is aware of what the romantic poet Hopkins
called "man's smudge" upon the landscape, the artist prefers
to focus his attention downward and inward. For Kessler, process
becomes part of his art's content as he scrapes, burnishes and abrades
the surfaces to reveal nature's "freshness deep down things." In the course of the last twenty years Kessler evolved a two-part
process for his paintings. He first coats the entire surface with
a series of oil paint skins that vary in their "sandability,"
as he terms it. This labor intensive method embodies time as he
waits for each layer to dry before going on. Periodically smoothed
and rubbed, Kessler's paintings allude to habitual use, suggesting
textures worn by attrition. A variety of gestural marks inhabit
these nether realms that may or may not be unearthed by the happenstance
of the second phase's stratigraphy.
Ninety-five percent of what we see is the result of a final "wet into wet"' session, an intense sprint of creation in which Kessler permits the image to evolve as he uses the palette knife like a spade, delving below what is visible to reveal the artifacts of past intentions.
He enjoys working with wood as a support. Three years ago Kessler's paintings jumped scale from that of the hand-held plank to the body-sized panel. No longer bounded by his characteristic frames, the new works have rounded corners, as if to reinforce their existence as sculptural objects.
But for all their "thingness," Kessler's works align themselves within the sensual tradition of oil painting. He uses the viscous medium to probe the inner life of color, yielding beaming, light-shot passages as-well as moody expanses of hues that evade the act of naming.
In Kessler's most recent body of work, his imagery is attenuated-shapes may tunnel down from above, or drift up like sea grass. At times patterned filaments with no beginnings nor ends pulse from top to bottom in rhythmic intervals. In other instances, they pool and loop as if suspended in a dense liquid. Like glass-bottomed boats, his images often reveal the gestural record beneath the painting's surface.
Kessler's diverse titles reflect his broad interests and current reading. They allude to watery domains, developmental transformations and primitive societies. In the artist's words, "I'm painting the internal dynamics of nature, the energy, and the elements of the soul in the natural world."
Judith Stein
Curator- Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Philadelphia, PA July 1990
PLATES
1. Metastructures of a Pagan, 1990
oil on wood
8'x 4'
2. Far Ranging Heredity, 1990
oil on wood
8'x 4'
3. Aquatic Patriarch, 1990
oil on wood
8'x 4'
4. Modified Kinglet, 1990
oil on wood
8'x 4'
5. A Preening Sea, 1990
oil on wood
8'x 4'
6. Molt, 1990
oil on wood
8'x 4'
7. Pintail Flame, 1990
oil on wood
8'x 4' 8. Younger Self, 1990
oil on wood
8'x 4'
Biography
1954 Born in Hanover, Pennsylvania
1977 Whitney Independent Study Program, New York, NY
1978 B.F.A. Kutztown University, Kutztown, PA
1983 Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Grant in Painting
1985 Award Winner, Awards in the Visual Arts, 5
1990 Award Winner, The Rome Prize, American Academy of Rome
Solo Exhibitions
1990
Schmidt/Dean Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Jack Tilton Gallery, New York, NY
Klein Artworks, Chicago, IL
Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, NY
1989
Art Now Gallery, Goteborg, Sweden
1988
Jack Tilton Gallery, New York, NY
Virginia Miller Gallery, Coral Gables, FL
1987
Jack Tilton Gallery, New York, NY
Barbara Krakow Gallery, Boston, MA
1986
Wolff Gallery, New York, NY
Art Now Gallery, Goteborg, Sweden
Fabian Carlson Gallery, London, England
1984
Jack Tilton Gallery, New York, NY
Group Exhibitions
1990
Five American Artists, Galerie D’Art, Copenhagen, Denmark
Santa Barbara Museum, Santa Barbara, CA
1989
Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, MI
7 American Abstract Artists," Ruggiero Henis Gallery,
1987
New York, NY, curated by David Carrier
Art Now Gallery, Goteborg, Sweden
1988
Barbara Krakow Gallery, Boston, MA
Chicago Art Expo, Chicago, IL
Basel Art Fair, Basel, Switzerland
Pennsylvania Perspectives, Carnegie Mellon University Art
Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
Group Show, Jack Tilton Gallery, New York, NY
Recent Acquisitions, Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA
Revelations at the Pacific End of the Second Millennium,
Lutheran University, Tacoma, WA
Land, ACA Gallery, New York, NY
Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Gallery, Greensboro, NC
Group Show, Jack Tilton Gallery, New York, NY
Director's Choice, Virginia Miller Gallery, Coral Gables,
FL
Group Show, ACA Gallery, New York, NY
Basel Art Fair, Basel, Switzerland
Realism & Abstraction, The Newark Museum, Newark, NJ
Los Angeles Art Fair, Los Angeles, CA
1986
Group Show, Jack Tilton Gallery, New York, NY
The Freedman Gallery: The First Decade, Freedman Gallery,
Reading, PA
Recent Acquisitions, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo,
NY
Outside New York, Sunrise Museum, Charleston, WV
Best of New York, Moosart Gallery, Miami, FL
More Than Meets the Eye, Galleria Carini, Florence, Italy
Outside New York, Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs,
CA
AVA Exhibit, Neuberger Museum, Purchase, NY;
Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OR
Norton Gallery, West Palm Beach, FL
Not About Nature, San Diego State University, San Diego,
CA
Brooklyn Courthouse, Brooklyn, NY
Outside NYC, Bellevue Art Museum, Seattle, WA
Spiritual Climates, Thorpe/Intermedia Gallery, Sparkill,
NY
A Sense of Place, Faneuil Gallery, Boston, MA
More Than Meets the Eye, Fabian Carlsson Gallery, London,
England
Art 16 '85, Basel Art Fair, Basel, Switzerland, through
Jack Tilton Gallery, New York, NY
Picture Frame-Frame Picture, Gabrielle Bryers, New York,
NY
1984
Arco 84, Madrid Art Fair, through Jack Tilton Gallery,
New York, NY
NYC, Exotica, Stephen Rosenberg Gallery, New York, NY
Pennsylvania Artists International, Albright College, Reading,
PA
NY-Outside NY, The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New
York, NY
Made in Pennsylvania, Institute of Contemporary Art, University
of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Outside New York, Monterey Peninsula Art Museum, Monterey,
CA
1983
Five Contemporary Artists, Allentown Art Museum, Allentown,
PA
Intoxication, Monique Knowlton Gallery, New York, NY
Harrison Council for the Arts, SUNY, Purchase, NY
Selections 22, The Drawing Center, New York, NY
New Work New York, Monique Knowlton Gallery, New York,
NY
1980
In and Out of New York, White Columns, New York, NY
Bibliography
1990
Nature in Evolution: The Scandinavian Works, exhibition
catalogue, Art Now Gallery,
Goteborg, Sweden
Rice, Robin, "Cool Slate and Weathered Wood," Philadelphia
City Paper, March 16,1990
Sozanski, Edward, "On Galleries," The Philadelphia
Inquirer, March 4, 1990
1989
Yau, John, Four Painters, exhibition catalogue, Flint Institute
of Arts, Flint, MI
Cyphers, Peggy, Arts Magazine, January 1989, P. 107
1988
Newhall, Edith, New York Magazine, "Galleries,"
September, p. 72.
Yau, John, "Michael Kessler's View of the World," Exhibition
catalog, Jack Tilton Gallery, New York, NY
1987
Carrier, David, "Michael Kessler: A Painter of Nature in the
Era of Postmodernist Art," Arts
Magazine, May 1987, pp. 32-33.
Narrett, "Michael Kessler," New Art Examiner, April
1987, p. 45.
Stapen, Nancy, "Michael Kessler," Artforum, April
1987, pp. 132-133.
Wineberg, Jonathan, Art in America, p. 180-181.
Art & Antiques, Jan. p. 34.
1986
Gambrell, Jamey, Exhibition Essay for AVA Catalogue.
Zimmer, Wm., "Winners on Parade at the Neuberger,"The
New York Times, May 11, 1986, p. 22, Westchester Section.
Hall, Jacqueline, "Arts Flourish Outside New York," The
Columbus Dispatch, Sunday, September 21,
p. G-1.
1985
Yau, John, "Michael Kessler,"Artforum, Feb.,
p. 87
Yau, John, "Michael Kessler's Drawings: Gesture as Image,"
Sulfur 14, Dec., pp. 88-93.
Bohn-Duchen, Monica, "Nine Painters from NX Flash Art,
no, 126, Oct.-Nov., p, 56.
Schwabsky, Barry, "Exotica: A Different World," Arts
MagazIne, March pp. 120-121.
Larson, Kay, "Fresh Faces for Summer," New York Magazlne,
pp. 54-55.
Raynor, Vivian, "Art: New York, an Anthology at the New Museum,"'
The New York Times, June 22,
P. C-1 9.
1984
Rifkin, Ned, "New Work: New York/Outside New York,"' Exhibition
Catalogue, The New Museum of Contemporary Art.
Made in Philadelphia 6, Exhibition catalog for the Institute
of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA
Warren, Ron, "'Michael Kessler at Jack Tilton Gallery,"
Arts Magazine, summer edition, pp. 34-35.
Bushyeager, Peter, "'Recent Philadelphia Art at the I.C.A.,"
The Philadelphia City Paper, April 6, p. 15.
1983-84
Kotik, Charlotta, "'Landscapes and Imagery: Paintings &
Drawings by Michael Kessler," Exhibition Catalogue, Niagara
University
1983
Klein, Ellen Lee, "New Work, Monique Knowlton Gallery,"
Arts Magazine, Nov., p. 38
Glueck, Grace, "Art-One Man's Biennial Assembles 102 Artists,
The New York Times, April 15, p. C-24.
Moufarrege, Nicholas, "Intoxication," Arts Magazine,
April, p. 70.
Selected Public Collections
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
Buscaglia-Castellani Art Gallery, Niagara University
Niagara Falls, NY
The Newark Museum, Newark, NJ
The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY
The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
Prudential Insurance Co., New York, NY
The Huntington Museum, Austin, TX
Columbus Museum, Columbus, OH
Philadelphia Museum, Philadelphia, PA
Pepsico, Purchase, NY
Air Products, Allentown, PA
SOHIO, Cleveland, OH
Broad Foundation, Los Angeles, CA
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Chase Manhattan Bank, New York, NY
Bank of Boston, Boston, MA
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