Michael Kessler - Abstract Art | Paia Contemporary Gallery

Michael Kessler

Original Abstract Paintings

1 2 ►

About The Artist
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.

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

Select Museum & Public Exhibitions
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 Exhibitions
2014 Paia Contemporary Gallery, Hawaii
2014 Gallery Mar, Park City, Utah
2014 Butters Gallery, Portland, Oregon
2014 Patricia Rovzar Gallery, Seattle, Washington
2014 Madison Gallery, La Jolla, California
2014 Cheryl Hazan Gallery, NYC
2013 Michael Kessler, Paia Contemporary Gallery, Hawaii
2013 Callan Contemporary, New Orleans
2013 Russell Collection, Austin, Texas
2013 Michael Kessler, Gallery Mar, Park City, Utah
2012 Michael Kessler, Schmidt/Dean Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2012 Michael Kessler, Joseph Gierek Fine Art, Tulsa, Texas
2012 Artamo, Santa Barbara, California
2011 Argazzi Gallery, Lakeville, Connecticut
2011 Gallery Bienvenu, New Orleans, Louisana
2011 Michael Kessler, Madison Gallery, La Jolla, California
2011 Butters Gallery, Portland, Oregon
2011 Michael Kessler, Paia Contemporary Gallery, Maui, Hawai
2011 Argazzi Art, Lakeville, Connecticut
2011 Ann Korologos Gallery, Basalt, Colorado
2011 Michael Kessler, Russell Collection, Austin, Texas
2010 Michael Kessler, Paia Contemporary Gallery, Maui, Hawaii
2010 Mark Gallery, Englewood, New Jersey
2010 Michael Kessler, Lanoue Fine Art, Boston, Massachusetts
2010 Michael Kessler, Gallery Mar, Park City, Utah
2009 Michael Kessler, Melanee Cooper Gallery, Chicago, Illinios
2008 George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles, California.
2008 Michael Kessler, Blink Gallery, Boulder, Colorado
2008 Michael Kessler, Nuart Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2008 Artamo Gallery, Santa Barbara, California
2008 Michael Kessler, Schmidt Dean Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2008 Renee George Gallery, Charlotte, North Carolina
2007 Michael Kessler, Gallery Bienvenu, New Orleans, Louisana
2007 Michael Kessler, Sense Gallery, Menlo Park, California.
2007 Michael Kessler, Art Now Gallery, Gothenberg, Sweden
2007 Butters Gallery, Portland, Oregon
2007 Michael Kessler, Lanoue Gallery, Boston, Massesschuets
2007 Michael Kessler, Russell Collection, Austin, Texas
2007 Michael Kessler, Daniel Kany Gallery, Portland, Maine
2007 Dean Day Gallery, Houston, Texas
2006 Michael Kessler, Gallery Bienvenu, New Orleans, Louisana
2006 Michael Kessler, Craighead Green Gallery, Dallas, Texas
2006 Michael Kessler, Friesen Gallery, Sun Valley, Idaho
2006 Melanee Cooper Gallery, Chicago, Illinios
2006 Schmidt Dean Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2006 Michael Kessler, Nuart Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2006 Michael Kessler, Allyn Gallup Contemporary, Sarasota, Florida
2006 Michael Kessler, John Raimondi Gallery, Boston, Massaschucits
2006 Reed Savage Gallery, Miami, Florida
2006 Michael Kessler, Perry Nicole Fine Art, Memphis, Tennessee
2005 Michael Kessler, Nuart Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2005 Sense Gallery, Menlo Park, California.
2005 Michael Kessler, Butters Gallery, Portland, Oregon
2005 Friesen Gallery, Seattle, Washington
2004 Michael Kessler, Nuart Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2004 Allyn Gallup Contemporary, Sarasota, Florida
2004 Michael Kessler, Schmidt/Dean Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2004 Michael Kessler, Magidson Fine Art, Aspen, Colorado
2003 Michael Kessler, Nuart Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2003 Craighead Green Gallery , Dallas , Texas
2003 Michael Kessler, Butters Gallery, Portland, Oregon
2003 Littlejohn Contemporary, New York, New York
2003 Sense Gallery, Menlo Park, Ca.
2002 Michael Kessler, Schmidt/Dean Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2002 Michael Kessler, Nuart Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2002 Concept Art Gallery; Pittsburgh, Pa.
2001 Allyn Gallup Contemporary, Sarasota, Florida
2001 Michael Kessler, EVO Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2001 Michael Kessler, Bonfoey Company, Cleveland , Ohio
2000 Michael Kessler, Klein Art Works, Chicago, Illinois
1999 Michael Kessler, Littlejohn Contemporary, New York, New York
1999 Michael Kessler, Klein Art Works, Chicago, Illinois
1999 Mira Mar Gallery; Sarasota, Florida
1999 Schmidt/Dean Gallery; Phila, Pennsylvania
1998 Michael Kessler, Bemis Center of Contemporary Art , Omaha , Nebraska
1998 Craighead Green Gallery , Dallas , Texas
1997 Michael Kessler, Littlejohn Contemporary, New York, New York
1997 Michael Kessler, 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 Michael Kessler, Galleri Flesser , Helsingborg , Sweden
1995 Michael Kessler, Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Omaha, Nebraska
1995 Art Now Gallery , Gothenberg, Sweden
1995 Michael Kessler, Klein Artworks, Chicago, Illinois
1994 Klein Artworks; Chicago, Illinois
1994 Michael Kessler, Schmidt/Dean Gallery; Philadelphia, Pa.
1994 Castellani Art Museum, Niagara Falls, New York
1994 Concept Art Gallery; Pittsburgh, Pa.
1993 Michael Kessler, Art Now Gallery; Goteborg, Sweden
1993 Schmidt/Dean Gallery; Phila., Pennsylvania
1992 Michael Kessler, Klein Artworks; Chicago, Illinois