beneath the skin

   Michael Kessler's paintings are known for their combination of grids floating, as it were, above seemingly organic backgrounds reminiscent of nature. This particular showing emphasizes "skins" of acrylic paint that obscure or edit out parts of the underlying structure. Various basic elements, such as sand patterns on a shoreline, inform the grounded structure of these works, but do not seem incongruous with highly structured elements comprising the uppermost planes of the painting.

Kessler's keen sense of observation draws him to many different sources for the wellspring of his inspiration. Components of erosion and decay as seen in the natural world permeate these recent works. The union of such widely diverse elements in a cohesive form is no small task and Kessler achieves this with a visual literacy honed by years of experimentation and experience.

Michael Kessler is the recipient of both the prestigious Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome and a Grant from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation. Kessler is also represented in over twenty-four prominent museum collections throughout the United States. Kessler's work was recently acquired by three museums, among them the prestigious De Cordova Museum in Lincoln, Massachusetts.