Paia Contemporary Gallery

Michael Kessler

Original Artwork

About The Artist
Michael Kessler’s awards include the Rome Prize for Painting from the American Academy in Rome in 1990, and a Pollock/Krasner Award in Painting in 1992. Kessler’s work has been widely exhibited in the US and abroad, and has been featured in over 150 solo exhibitions since 1983. His 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.

Artist Statement
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 enough times, eventually you get good at it.

Awards/Fellowship
Rome Prize, Painting, American Academy in Rome, 1990
Pollock/Krasner Award, Painting, New York, New York, 1992
Whitney Independent Study Program, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York, 1977
Awards in the Visual Arts-Five, Grant in Painting, South Eastern Center for Contemporary Art, 1985
Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Grant in Painting, 1983

Select Museum Collections
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA
Archer M. Huntington Art Gallery, Austin, TX
Broad Foundation, Los Angeles, CA
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
Castellani Art Museum, Niagara Falls, NY
Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH
DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA.
Fabric Workshop, Philadelphia, PA.
Fine Arts Gallery, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
Flint Institute of the Arts, Flint, MI
Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN.
Honolulu Academy of the Arts, Honolulu, HA
Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Museum of Fine Arts, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Naples Museum of Art, Naples, Fl.
Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, NY.
The New Museum of Contemporary Art, NY
The Newark Museum, Newark, NJ
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, FL
Reading Public Museum, Reading, PA.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA

Select Public Collections
Vitale, Caturano and Company, Ltd., Boston, Ma.
Golden Artists Color, Berlin, NY
Pfizer Inc, NYC
Pepsico, Camden, NJ
Price Waterhouse, Washington, D.C.
Prudential Insurance Co., Newark, NJ
Regent Hotel, Hong KongExxon, Houston, TX
Comcast, Philadelphia, PA.
Austin Company, Cleveland, OH
El Passo Energy, Houston, TX
Exxon Mobil, Houston, TX
Ericsson, Gothengerg, Sweden
First Union Bank, Phila. PA
Deloitte & Touche, Atlanta, GE
Compaq Computer, Houston, TX
Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., Allentown, PA.
Bank of Boston, Boston, MA
Bank of Japan, NYC
Chase Manhattan Bank, NYC
Heller Financial, Chicago, IL
American Financial Group, NYC
Northest Airlines, St. Paul, MN.
Rubenstein Co. Pittsburgh, PA.
Tokio Marine Management, NYC
Phillips Service, Pittsburgh, PA.
Freemarkets, Pittsburgh, PA.
Buchanan Ingersoll, Pittsburgh, PA
Gateway Towers, Pittsburgh, PA.
Morgan, Lewis, Bockius, Pittsburgh, PA
Jacobson/Sylvester, Pittsburgh, PA.
Duff & Phelps, Chicago, IL
Lincoln Financial Group, PA.
Vanguard Group, Valley Fordge, PA.
Tyson Corner, NYC
Forest City, The Grande, Washington DC
Penton Media Inc. Cleveland, OH
Lincoln Financial Group, Fort Wayne, IN
Hallmark Cards, Kansas City, MS
Rodale Press, Emmaus, PA
Scimed Life Systems, Inc., Minneapolis, MN
Sears Merchandise Group, Hoffman Estates, IL
SOHIO, Cleveland, OH
Vector Securities, Deerfield, IL
The Umstead Hotel and Spa, Cary, North Carolina
The St. Paul Companies, St. Paul, MN
Hart Senate Building, Senator Specter’s Office, Washington, DC
Warten School at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Voyageur Fund Managers. Minneapolis, MN
Wellington Management Company, Boston, MA

Select Solo Exhibitions
2012 Schmidt/Dean Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2011 Argazzi Gallery, Lakeville, Connecticut
2011 Gallery Bienvenu, New Orleans, Louisana
2011 Madison Gallery, La Jolla, California
2011 Butters Gallery, Portland, Oregon
2011 Paia Contemporary Gallery, Maui, Hawai
2011 Argazzi Art, Lakeville, Connecticut
2011 Ann Korologos Gallery, Basalt, Colorado
2011 Russell Collection, Austin, Texas
2010 Paia Contemporary Gallery, Maui, Hawaii
2010 Mark Gallery, Englewood, New Jersey
2010 Lanoue Fine Art, Boston, Massachusetts
2010 Gallery Mar, Park City, Utah
2009 Melanee Cooper Gallery, Chicago, Illinios
2008 George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles, California.
2008 Blink Gallery, Boulder, Colorado
2008 Nuart Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2008 Artamo Gallery, Santa Barbara, California
2008 Schmidt Dean Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2008 Renee George Gallery, Charlotte, North Carolina
2007 Gallery Bienvenu, New Orleans, Louisana
2007 Sense Gallery, Menlo Park, California.
2007 Art Now Gallery, Gothenberg, Sweden
2007 Butters Gallery, Portland, Oregon
2007 Lanoue Gallery, Boston, Massesschuets
2007 Russell Collection, Austin, Texas
2007 Daniel Kany Gallery, Portland, Maine
2007 Dean Day Gallery, Houston, Texas
2006 Gallery Bienvenu, New Orleans, Louisana
2006 Craighead Green Gallery, Dallas, Texas
2006 Friesen Gallery, Sun Valley, Idaho
2006 Melanee Cooper Gallery, Chicago, Illinios
2006 Schmidt Dean Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2006 Nuart Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2006 Allyn Gallup Contemporary, Sarasota, Florida
2006 John Raimondi Gallery, Boston, Massaschucits
2006 Reed Savage Gallery, Miami, Florida
2006 Perry Nicole Fine Art, Memphis, Tennessee
2005 Nuart Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2005 Sense Gallery, Menlo Park, California.
2005 Butters Gallery, Portland, Oregon
2005 Friesen Gallery, Seattle, Washington
2004 Nuart Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2004 Allyn Gallup Contemporary, Sarasota, Florida
2004 Schmidt/Dean Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2004 Magidson Fine Art, Aspen, Colorado
2003 Nuart Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2003 Craighead Green Gallery , Dallas , Texas
2003 Butters Gallery, Portland, Oregon
2003 Littlejohn Contemporary, New York, New York
2003 Sense Gallery, Menlo Park, Ca.
2002 Schmidt/Dean Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2002 Nuart Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2002 Concept Art Gallery; Pittsburgh, Pa.
2001 Allyn Gallup Contemporary, Sarasota, Florida
2001 EVO Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2001 Bonfoey Company, Cleveland , Ohio
2000 Klein Art Works, Chicago, Illinois
1999 Littlejohn Contemporary, New York, New York
1999 Klein Art Works, Chicago, Illinois
1999 Mira Mar Gallery; Sarasota, Florida
1999 Schmidt/Dean Gallery; Phila, Pennsylvania
1998 Bemis Center of Contemporary Art , Omaha , Nebraska
1998 Craighead Green Gallery , Dallas , Texas
1997 Littlejohn Contemporary, New York, New York
1997 Klein Art Works, Chicago, Illinois
1997 LewAllen Contemporary, Santa Fe, New Mexico
1996 Littlejohn Contemporary, New York, New York
1996 Schmidt / Dean Gallery, Philadelphia, Pa
1995 Galleri Flesser , Helsingborg , Sweden
1995 Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Omaha, Nebraska
1995 Art Now Gallery , Gothenberg, Sweden
1995 Klein Artworks, Chicago, Illinois
1994 Klein Artworks; Chicago, Illinois
1994 Schmidt/Dean Gallery; Philadelphia, Pa.
1994 Castellani Art Museum, Niagara Falls, New York
1994 Concept Art Gallery; Pittsburgh, Pa.
1993 Art Now Gallery; Goteborg, Sweden
1993 Schmidt/Dean Gallery; Phila., Pennsylvania
1992 Klein Artworks; Chicago, Illinois