Michael Kessler

NEW COMMISSION > MAUI > The Fairmont Kea Lani, Maui > KO Restaurant

2012-02-02T09:55:00.000-08:00

Here are images of a new commission I got for the Ko Restaurant at The Fairmont Kea Lani, Maui , Hawaii

New exhibition installation > Russell Collection > Austin

2012-01-31T18:11:00.001-08:00

I would not have installed these works this way but it is a very effective and interesting approach and I think it works very very well.

Kessler update > new series of long narrow panels.

2012-01-23T17:53:00.000-08:00

Here are images of a new series of long narrow works that I just completed. The color scheme includes blues, greens, and creams (or off-whites), and rust.

I have just begun work on a new commission for a restaurant in Hawaii which includes 5 long narrow panels that will be placed in a 70"x80" niche with a 30 foot viewing space. I will post images soon.

Kessler studio 01/22/12

2012-01-22T13:12:00.001-08:00

Thuja (2), 2012, 44"x79", acrylic on panel

2012-01-20T14:14:00.000-08:00

KESSLER @ DEAN DAY GALLERY > HOUSTON

2012-01-14T11:44:00.001-08:00

Opening this Saturday in Houston > Kessler Works > Dean Day Gallery

2012-01-09T19:00:00.000-08:00

Opening this Saturday in Houston > Kessler Works > Dean Day Gallery

kessler update > two new 44x66s

2012-01-09T17:41:00.000-08:00

Art review: Paintings of Former Berks Artist on Show in Philadelphia

2012-01-08T17:26:00.000-08:00

Art review: Paintings of Former Berks Artist on Show in PhiladelphiaOriginally Published: 1/8/2012 By Ron SchiraReading Eagle CorrespondentReading Eagle CompanyCourtesy of Ron SchiraAlthough it has been about 20 years since Hanover-born artist Michael Kessler moved his studio to Santa Fe, N.M., he has firmly kept one foot placed on Pennsylvania soil by regularly exhibiting his artworks at the Schmidt Dean Gallery in Philadelphia. On display now through Jan. 21, these latest acrylic works are visible in the gallery's Chestnut Street location in center city.Kessler, 58, received his bachelor's degree from Kutztown University and has shown extensively throughout the Berks and Lehigh Valley regions. Beyond that, his art and notoriety have generously been extended to galleries and museums nationwide through articles about him in all the major publications.Widely collected, his paintings reside in numerous homes and businesses. He has been honored with prestigious awards and grants, such as - and among others - the Rome Prize, the Whitney Independent Study Program and a Pollack-Krasner Foundation grant.His paintings, though based on nature, are entirely abstract and visually enticing. Smaller than his room-size works, the 16 pieces in this exhibit, all completed on wood panels, are gentle excursions into contemplation. But as with all of his recent paintings, a first glance will present a highly glossed surface that appears to contain embedded elements, somewhat like petals in amber. Further inspection will disclose that these surfaces and undersurfaces are systematically and carefully treated with numerous transparent veils of paint and medium to endow them with a luminous, marbled effect.Bands or stripes of single colors cross either vertically or horizontally, interrupting and energizing the surface as they seemingly float on the picture plane. Technically, they are painted, but their laborious process betrays a conceptual manner of approach that elucidates the painting's timeline, or how one is able to see how the layers interact. And similar to looking into a pond and seeing the levels of wavering plant life, or being able to grasp the underlying structure of roots or ground strata, one becomes aware of that internal space. As many as 50 layers are squeegeed smoothly across the surface in their making, adding to the cumulative effect.His titles consist of one word, such as "Birchlings" or "Axiology," which leaves all interpretation up to the viewer while simultaneously conveying a purely retinal and poetic experience. I must say, too, that I sensed a touch of calligraphy infused throughout much of the work, like bamboo through smoke or on silk.Previous efforts by the artist embraced a subtractive methodology, to which he would sand off excessive paint for the layered effect. The current paintings allow for the same end but with an additive tilt. They speak on an ongoing aesthetic of how he makes his art and how he came to his conclusions. The artist also will work in series and, for instance, emphasize the colors of red or blue in his compositions. For the pieces shown at Schmidt Dean, he explained that groves, forests and birch trees inspired the paintings.Normally, I am not a proponent of resin-coated paintings as I tend to see them disguise bad painting with a nice glossy sheen, making the sheen more important than what is beneath. These original artworks incorporate and conjoin that coating to the method of production and make it an integral part of the work and a true artistic invention.Contact Ron Schira: life@readingeagle.com.

Kessler > Redwoods 1 and 2, 48" x 30" each, 48" x 66" overall

2012-01-08T12:30:00.001-08:00

Kessler Works - Sense Fine Art - Menlo Park, California

2012-01-07T05:30:00.000-08:00

For seven years I have had the distinct pleasure of working with Rockwell owner and director of Sense Fine Art in Menlo Park, California which is the heart of "Silicon Valley". He has hosted several exhibitions of my work and below is a link to a video documentation of one I did in 2007.Rockwell was an Olympic Skier in his youth who competed in the biathlon. He is a very effective Art rep. who has placed many wonderful installations of my paintings. He has the eye of an artist and utilizes all of the sophisticated tools of the trade including Photoshop. He is honest and the hardest-working person I know who is constantly traveling, meeting with clients, installing Art, and making presentations. He powered right through the recession and never made the mistake of waiting for it to walk in the door. He is proactive. Below are several photos of installations of my work that he facilitated.

Kessler > update > new center panel

2012-01-04T13:58:00.000-08:00

Each panel > 60" x 40"

Here is an image of the first placement for 2012, by Sense Fine Art in Menlo Park California

2012-01-04T09:28:00.001-08:00

KESSLER > NEW WORKS 2012

2012-01-03T12:20:00.001-08:00

Kessler > First new works of 2012

2012-01-03T10:20:00.000-08:00

Here are the first two paintings finished in 2012. They were begun at the beginning of December 2011. The Aspen grove motif continues to be my focus here in these works.

Kessler . New Diptych > 60' x 90" overall

2011-12-18T11:53:00.000-08:00

Here is a new diptych comprised of two 60" x 40" panels. Together they measure 60" x 90".

Kessler > End-of-year Update > Recent Placements

2011-12-15T11:47:00.000-08:00

A few days ago Rockwell (Sense Fine Art, Menlo Park, Ca.) installed this new painting in a San Francisco high rise with a nice view of Alcatraz through the window on the right.

This painting below was the first one to sell from my current exhibition at Schmidt Dean Gallery in Philadelphia and I just heard that two more have been sold to N.Y.U. Medical Center in Manhattan.

Maren Bargreen Mullin (Gallery Mar, Park City, Utah) just placed this piece in a house in Park City.

Innerwoods, 40" x 60", new painting by Kessler

2011-12-14T19:35:00.000-08:00

Here is another new painting based upon my observations of the aspen forest groves up in the mountains just east of Santa Fe, New Mexico. This series really is humming nicely and I am in no hurry to see it pass.

Michael Kessler, State of Grace

2011-12-08T15:10:00.000-08:00

Opening Today > Recent Works by Kessler > Schmidt Dean Gallery, Philadelphia

2011-12-02T08:00:00.001-08:00

Come see if you can.

Kessler at Schmidt Dean Gallery, Philadelphia

2011-11-29T20:39:00.000-08:00

New works by Michael Kessler at Schmidt Dean Gallery, Philadelphia Pennsylvania. This exhibition opens Friday evening December 2. This exhibition features eight new paintings each measuring 60 inches high by 20 inches wide. In addition to the these paintings there will be eight works measuring 18" x 18". I will be attending this exhibition opening which runs from 530 until 8 PM December 2 . The exhibition will run from December 2 through January 22 . Here is a slideshow of the works that will be shown.

Kessler Exhibition > Schmidt Dean Gallery > Philadelphia > December, 2011-January, 2012

2011-11-29T08:40:00.000-08:00

Kessler paintings installed in Geronimo Restaurant, Santa Fe, NM.

2011-11-17T16:44:00.001-08:00

Kessler paintings installed in Geronimo Restaurant, Santa Fe, NM.

KESSLER WORKS ON VIEW IN SANTA FE NOW

2011-11-16T18:09:00.000-08:00

Coppice

2011-11-05T19:46:00.000-07:00

Michael Kessler's new book > New Works 2011

2011-11-01T17:02:00.001-07:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

Click here to create your own Shutterfly photo book.

Three new blue works by Michael Kessler > 60" x 20" each

2011-10-30T13:07:00.000-07:00

Three new blue works by Michael Kessler > acrylic on panel with resin each 60" x 20"

Kessler > 2 New paintings > Aspen Trees

2011-10-28T09:27:00.000-07:00

Forty years ago I began by drawing and painting detailed studies of tree trunks and branches. Now I have discovered a new way to work with this subject.60" x 20" each, acrylic on panel with resin >

New Blue paintings by Michael Kessler installed at Dean Day Gallery in Houston

2011-10-26T13:35:00.000-07:00

Current installation >Sea Set > at Dean Day Gallery in Houston.

Each panel is 12"x 79", acrylic on panel with resin.

Two new blue works by Michael Kessler installed at The Four Seasons Hotel - Austin, Texas

2011-10-21T11:43:00.000-07:00

Two new Blue works installed at The Four Seasons Hotel, Austin, Texas. Note Lady Bird Lake just outside the window.

Here is a photo of the hotel from across the lake.

"Silent Church" by Michael Kessler - 1985 - installed in the new offices of Wellington Management Company in Boston, Ma.

2011-10-20T13:43:00.000-07:00

New twin blues (60x20)

2011-10-12T09:13:00.000-07:00

The thing to notice here is just how different these two works are even though they are very closely related. That has always been of great interest to me.

New set of Blue works (12" x 79" each)

2011-10-07T13:28:00.000-07:00

Kessler > New PDF (Large-scale Commissions)

2011-10-02T15:43:00.000-07:00

Download New PDF (Large-scale Commissions)

Kessler paintings featured in Houston Lifestyles and Homes Magazine May 2009: Ravishing by the Ravine

2011-09-24T17:47:00.000-07:00

Kessler paintings featured in Houston Lifestyles and Homes Magazine May 2009: Ravishing by the Ravine

Kessler > Corporate Collections update

2011-09-22T10:22:00.000-07:00

This painting (Backboard, 47"x71") was just purchased by University Hospitals in Cleveland, Ohio via Bonfoey Gallery.

KESSLER AT ARGAZZI GALLERY, LAKEVILLE, CONN. SEPTEMBER, 2011

2011-09-09T18:50:00.000-07:00

Bending the Curve (high-resolution installation shots)

2011-07-30T12:55:00.000-07:00

Here are installation shots of my new exhibition at Gallery Bienvenu in New Orleans which will run through August and September of 2011. Click on these thumbnails to view high resolution images.

Bending the Curve - New Works by Michael Kessler at Gallery Bienvenu, New Orleans (August-September 2011)

2011-07-29T05:51:00.000-07:00

Slide show >>>

View/download the exhibition catalogue PDF here >>> Catalogue

For more information visit Gallery Bienvenu and/or Artnet

New Ipad animation

2011-07-05T08:31:00.000-07:00

The Ipad is a very powerful and creative tool. I keep discovering new and exciting ways to use it to make art and to explore the world around me. Here is a little animation I made last evening while up on my observation deck on the roof.

If you want to continue to receive my blog post updates please sign up for email notifications here in the little box. Soon I will stop emailing them manually.

Ipad drawing #1

2011-07-04T09:42:00.001-07:00

This is my first iPad drawing. I expect to make many more and will be posting them here on my blog.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:iPad

New Large scale commission is installed

2011-07-01T12:37:00.000-07:00

Madison Gallery in La Jolla, California installed this new large scale commission yesterday (June 30th)

New essay > by Miriam Seidel - Corresponding Editor, Art in America

2011-06-27T09:39:00.000-07:00

Michael Kessler , “Bending the Curve”, Gallery Bienvenu, New Orleans, Aug. 2011
by Miriam Seidel , Corresponding Editor, Art in America

New Mexico, with its clear light and wide-open yet varied desert landscape, has inspired many artists over the past century – including the modernist painters Georgia O’Keeffe, Marsden Hartley and Arthur Dove – to make work that reconciles its distinctive qualities without creating literal landscapes. Michael Kessler’s nature-based abstraction can be seen as part of this tradition. His virtuosic painting process, with its toweling, drips and squeezes, makes for textures that echo rippling sand and weathered wood, and his gray-whites and tans call up the high desert floor. A painting like Condign can read as a riff on an aerial map, with the grid-like marks suggesting the geometry of plowed fields, while the stained and scruffy brown background abides, beside or underneath the areas of new green.

Yet Kessler’s work continues to flow, and the new paintings in this exhibit demonstrate that his sensibility is not confined to one place. Here, the dark, coiling gestural marks that underlie each painting can be read as meandering rivers, looping and doubling back at times, finding multiple new channels. Like the Mississippi, their relaxed curves belie their prodigious power. Within the exquisite semi-transparent layering that Kessler achieves, these river-marks might be flowing unseen as underground aquifers, then re-emerging, feeding their banks with new color. The muted spring green and deep blue that appear in this work can suggest the fertile land and blue water of the Gulf. These colors, especially in the long horizontal format of the Eudemon series, seem to plunge us inside the water, where the dance of layers might be allowing tendrils of sea-grass to float or fall under the surface.

In the diptych Coryphaeus, the layering of green over the long, meandering mark gives the line a ghostly presence in places. Here, the half-hidden arc, with only its edges fully visible, feels more like a line of energy – what in Chinese landscape would be called a dragon line, tracing unseen forces below the earth. And the blue-white filaments branching and coursing across their cerulean bands in the painting Galvanic feel unmistakably electric. Here Kessler brings us to an understanding of nature as a mysterious force that may be best embodied through abstraction. The fluid, gestural elements may at times feel constrained by the bands of straight lines and solid color that inflect every composition; but that straight-edged counterpoint also creates passages that move rhythmically, in quasi-musical lines that point in their own way to pure energy.

- Miriam Seidel
Corresponding Editor, Art in America

Upcoming Exhibition > Gallery Bienvenu > New Orleans > Aug/Sept. 2011

2011-06-24T16:17:00.000-07:00

Slideshow >>>>>

Shared photo book from MICHAEL

2011-06-20T08:38:00.001-07:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

Boston Commission is installed > One Burlington Woods > 2011

2011-06-07T11:18:00.000-07:00

Boston Commission is installed > One Burlington Woods > 2011
This painting is 84"x 52" and was produced specifically for this site.
Thanks Susan Lanoue and Lanoue Fine Art in Boston.

Here is a scale reference shot.

Kessler update > the painting 'Hornswoggle" goes to China

2011-06-01T08:44:00.000-07:00

The Kessler painting "Hornswoggle" is reproduced in an article in "Objekt International" where it is pictured hanging in the "Tianjin Eagle Lang International Hotel" which was designed by China Architect and designer Patrick Leung.

Florida Commission 2011_0001.wmv

2011-05-27T10:38:00.000-07:00

New Commission for Florida via Gallery Mar in Park City, Utah

2011-05-27T06:44:00.000-07:00

This is a new commission for Florida via Gallery Mar in Park City, Utah. Each panel is 79" x 12" with the overall dimension being 79" x 44". These works have been resin-coated.

Eudemon Series 2011 (12"x79" each)

2011-05-22T12:47:00.000-07:00

Photo Book

2011-05-19T15:39:00.001-07:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

New large-scale commission for MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas

2011-05-16T10:12:00.000-07:00

A month in the works the new large-scale commission piece for MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston is finished. Here is a photo of the source piece next to the new larger painting that will be installed in the lobby soon.

Here is a photo with scale reference as this is a big painting.

Group of 11

2011-05-14T17:31:00.000-07:00

Several weeks into this new group of works the arrangement consists of 11 panels all 79"x12" with color ranging from sea-foam greens to deep-water blues to rusted calciums. Each panel is a unique member of the family with it's own inner dynamics and composition yet they all share dna and obviously belong to the same species. Together they form a harmonious orchestra or at least that is my aim.

Kessler > Further explorations in this cool palette

2011-05-13T12:54:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more explorations into this cool palette.

Kessler > Sea-foam greens merge with deep-water blues

2011-05-13T12:37:00.000-07:00

Recently I have been working on a commission for Florida in which the sea-foam greens merge with deep-water blues. This is an entirely new color combination and one I am quite fascinated with at the moment.

Kessler > New (12"x79") panels for a commission in Florida

2011-05-08T13:34:00.000-07:00

Here is another new group of "long/skinnies". These 6 panels were produced for a commission in Florida and each panel is 12"x79". For the commission we will select one of these, one rust-colored panel, and one with soft greens and blues which I have yet to make.

New Small Painting 2011.AVI

2011-05-07T14:03:00.000-07:00

Kessler Exhibition > "Bending the Curve", Gallery Bienvenu, New Orleans, August/September 2011

2011-04-22T13:18:00.000-07:00

This new collection of acrylic paintings by Michael Kessler is characterized by the merger of organic, meandering, linear structure with thick slabs of white or slightly tinted neutral grid-like structures. These works are actually recordings of the mental processes which include decision-making and revisions. What we are left with in the end is a carefully constructed and highly-edited visual puzzle filled with mystery and intrigue. The works contain naturalistic and architectural elements that, through careful observation, reveal a delicate balancing of opposites.

Kessler > 2 new 40x60s

2011-04-21T09:58:00.001-07:00

These two are a pair.

Kessler > Isgeneric 40x60

2011-04-20T15:31:00.000-07:00

Here is a new painting which is quite different from anything I've done to date.

Kessler > preliminary mockup for next big commission

2011-04-19T14:12:00.000-07:00

The big commissions are coming in fast these days. The Boston commission (84x52) was just packed into the truck and will travel across the country for installation in the coming days. Meanwhile the big blue commission (48x120) for MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston is now about 30% finished and here is an image of the next commission which is 5'x7'.

Kessler > New group of paintings

2011-04-19T09:38:00.000-07:00

Here is a new group of paintings just completed. These works are each 18"x36".

Kessler > Big blue commission > progress shot

2011-04-17T15:19:00.000-07:00

This is a photograph of the big blue commission piece for the hospital lobby. At this point it is perhaps 20% complete so quite a ways to go but this blue field has a nice vibration right now. It is 48"x120".

Kessler > ON GREY > A new group of paintings

2011-04-13T15:02:00.000-07:00

These works were all painted on a grey ground which is new for me and I am quite into this approach right now.

Kessler @ Butters 2011.AVI

2011-04-07T17:29:00.000-07:00

Kessler exhibitions opens at Butters Gallery in Portland, Oregon today

2011-04-07T14:29:00.000-07:00

Kessler > New paintings 40"x60" each

2011-04-06T09:28:00.000-07:00

Continuing this new series here on neutral grounds these works reveal a concrete quality next to the calcium aspects I've been working with now for some years.

Art News | Michael Kessler ~ New Works at Butters Gallery in Portland | Art Knowledge News

2011-04-05T07:58:00.000-07:00

Art News | Michael Kessler ~ New Works at Butters Gallery in Portland | Art Knowledge News

Visual Art Source - Weekly Newsletter - Richard Speer

2011-04-04T14:21:00.000-07:00

Art Ltd. - Visual Art Source - Weekly Newsletter - Richard Speer

Third adjustment to the big commission piece

2011-03-31T08:57:00.000-07:00

This is a comparison between the original painting and the new one where you can see the differences are quite apparent. My process allows the paintings to remain mailable and open to change as all of the layers and various elements can evolve and transform. This is what I love about painting in this way.

Three new 18"x36" works.

2011-03-28T15:38:00.000-07:00

Continuing the new series on neutral grounds here these three new pieces are each 18"x36".

Kessler at Butters Gallery, Portland, Oregon - April 2011

2011-03-23T12:14:00.000-07:00

Michael Kessler will open "New Works" at Butters Gallery in Portland, Oregon on Thursday April 7th. This exhibition brings together a group on new paintings produced in 2011 which are characterized by large diaphanous fields of color that are activated by organic linear structures that have been visually and physically woven into a matrix or grid-like structure which consist of thick slabs of paint. These organic linear structures are overlapped and punctuated by dendritic growth patterns that suggest the bending of time and space. All of these visual elements as well as the color combinations have been carefully extracted from Nature over time through prolonged observation and then reconstructed and orchestrated to transmit the dynamics of the Natural World. In this work disperate and often unrelated visual aspects merge to create a unique visual experience that moves toward harmony and balance.

Cynegetics 60x40

2011-03-23T09:51:00.000-07:00

This is the first piece in a new series of works on a diaphanous grey ground where layers of transparent and translucent neutrals are washed over one another to achieve a rich and complex atmospheric space into which curvilinear structures and dendritic growth patterns are juxtaposed and overlapped to suggest the bending of space and time.

Large-scale commission (Lanoue Fine Art, Boston), 84"x52"

2011-03-22T11:38:00.000-07:00

New Kessler placement (Gallery Mar-Park City, Utah), 3 panels 80"x12" each, 80"x40" overall, 2011

2011-03-20T12:07:00.000-07:00

New Kessler placement (Sense Fine Art) Menlo Park, California, 9 panels, 80"x124" overall

2011-03-19T19:05:00.000-07:00

This is a group of 9 panels most measuring 80"x 12" installed on a large wall positioned where a stairway enters the room. The piece can be viewed in it's entirety from most points in the room including while one ascends or descends the stairway.

New set of five paintings, 2 - 60"x40" with three 36"x18"

2011-03-17T15:23:00.000-07:00

MADISON 2011 8X8

2011-03-08T18:26:00.001-08:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

Kessler Korologos Installation 2011.avi

2011-03-08T06:18:00.000-08:00

Kessler Talk at Korologos Gallery 2011.avi

2011-03-07T19:06:00.000-08:00

Opening today > Kessler works at Ann Korologos Gallery in Basalt, Colorado

2011-03-04T04:52:00.000-08:00

Michael Kessler, New Realms

2011-03-02T18:06:00.000-08:00

Kessler at Madison Gallery in LaJolla March 2011

2011-03-01T18:24:00.000-08:00

Corybant and Cotyledon 60x40 each 60x96 overall

2011-02-28T07:58:00.000-08:00

A few days ago a new group of paintings were delivered to Madison Gallery in LaJolla.
The gallery space is very generous and spacious with high walls and a lovely view of the Pacific Ocean out the back.
I made a special group of paintings for this occasion which are similar but different from any previous work.
Nature evolves slowly over time through small incremental shifts one trait at a time or so I imagine. My work is the same and it is often the very small changes that end up affecting the work in very noticeable and important ways. For example the thickness of the panel that supports the image can become a very important factor as it has with this new group where I increased it by an inch. Now these works have grown to the dimensions of 96” x 40” with a three inch profile. The object-hood is nearly perfect for this scale and that is no small matter. In addition to this shift these works also employ a clean austere white (or red) three-inch wide grid structure that surrounds the more heavily-worked image within. Borders and dividers are nothing new to my lexicon however these particular grid-structures are clean and devoid of any marks or textures and thereby introduce a very sharp contrast which to me works extremely well visually. It is a formal signifier that gives emphasis to the more funky and natural elements presented in the more heavily-worked areas. Each of these seemingly small changes adds up to a more powerful and effective painting which after-all is the point of all this work. These new works possess a heightened sense of presence and a formality that makes a definitive statement and transmits more accurately the energy I am after. It represents a very important step forward in the evolution of my work.
The color I used in this new work is also carefully adjusted and restricted. There is an abundance of taupe or what might be referred to as a “dirty-white” which has been juxtaposed with the clean austere white or red grid-like armatures. Again this is not necessarily new to my repertoire but in this particular context the contrasts have been sharpened and maximized.
Modern Architecture continues to influence this work and can be seen as a major reference point that cannot be understated. For this I make no apology as I feel strongly drawn to the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and those that came after them.

Cotyledon, 40" x 60"

2011-02-27T13:13:00.001-08:00

Notes on New Paintigns > Feb. 2011

2011-02-27T09:57:00.001-08:00

Sunday, February 27, 2011 > Notes on New Work > Michael Kessler
A few days ago a new group of paintings were delivered to Madison Gallery in LaJolla.
The gallery space is very generous and spacious with high walls and a lovely view of the Pacific Ocean out the back.
I made a special group of paintings for this occasion which are similar but different from any previous work.
Nature evolves slowly over time through small incremental shifts one trait at a time or so I imagine. My work is the same and it is often the very small changes that end up affecting the work in very noticeable and important ways. For example the thickness of the panel that supports the image can become a very important factor as it has with this new group where I increased it by an inch. Now these works have grown to the dimensions of 96” x 40” with a three inch profile. The object-hood is nearly perfect for this scale and that is no small matter. In addition to this shift these works also employ a clean austere white (or red) three-inch wide grid structure that surrounds the more heavily-worked image within. Borders and dividers are nothing new to my lexicon however these particular grid-structures are clean and devoid of any marks or textures and thereby introduce a very sharp contrast which to me works extremely well visually. It is a formal signifier that gives emphasis to the more funky and natural elements presented in the more heavily-worked areas. Each of these seemingly small changes adds up to a more powerful and effective painting which after-all is the point of all this work. These new works possess a heightened sense of presence and a formality that makes a definitive statement and transmits more accurately the energy I am after. It represents a very important step forward in the evolution of my work.
The color I used in this new work is also carefully adjusted and restricted. There is an abundance of taupe or what might be referred to as a “dirty-white” which has been juxtaposed with the clean austere white or red grid-like armatures. Again this is not necessarily new to my repertoire but in this particular context the contrasts have been sharpened and maximized.
Modern Architecture continues to influence this work and can be seen as a major reference point that cannot be understated. For this I make no apology as I feel strongly drawn to the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and those that came after them.

Calcicole Series 15x15 each 8'x8' overall

2011-02-24T10:32:00.000-08:00

5 New Giants >>> 96" x 40" each, 8'x 20'

2011-02-22T14:52:00.000-08:00

Shared photo book from MICHAEL

2011-02-21T08:03:00.001-08:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

Four New Giants >>> 96" x 40" each, 8'x16' overall

2011-02-20T15:27:00.000-08:00

Three new giants >>> 96"x40" each, 8'x12' overall

2011-02-20T13:27:00.000-08:00

Two new giants >>> 96"x40" each, 8'x8' overall

2011-02-19T16:27:00.000-08:00

Cornute 96x40 with scale reference

2011-02-17T09:37:00.000-08:00

Cornute, 40" x 96", acrylic/panel

2011-02-17T08:42:00.000-08:00

3 new 60x40s

2011-02-16T18:42:00.001-08:00

Recent placement by Sense Fine Art, Menlo Park, Ca.

2011-02-16T09:45:00.000-08:00

New Painting > Upwelling 80" x 60"

2011-02-12T14:55:00.001-08:00

This is an exhibition catalogue for my upcoming show at Ann Korologos Gallery

2011-02-10T13:40:00.001-08:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

This is an exhibition catalogue for my upcoming show at Ann Korologos Gallery which opens March 4th and runs to April 4th 2011. This version is 12"x12" hardcover 20 pages. This book can be ordered from Shutterfly.com for $54.00.

Graceland (60"x80") was just purchased by Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Placed by Chris Schmidt (Schmidt/Dean Gallery, Philadelphia)

2011-02-05T11:38:00.000-08:00

Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

Newly installed and currently on view at ArtCube in Laguna Beach, California

2011-02-04T14:45:00.000-08:00