David Kessler

Born in Teaneck, New Jersey, David T. Kessler has been creating his unique photorealistic airbrushed works on aluminum for over thirty years. Kessler received his BFA from Arizona State University in 1972 and his MFA from San Francisco Art Institute in 1975.

Kessler has made a name for himself as an extraordinary painter who has created a unique art form that holds a viewers attention by accentuating the paradox of the flat painted surface with the visual illusion of depth and space.  Using a perfected technique in the photorealist tradition developed over the past twenty-five years, the artist has created a series of spectacular waterscape paintings that incorporate realistic imagery painted over a surface of abraded and polished aluminum.  This combination of hybrid elements forces the viewer to shift their perception to accommodate the incongruity of light being reflected from the metal surface, while at the same time being absorbed by the painted areas.  This reinforces the strange visual perplexity of the paintings that are at the same time realistic and holographic.

Kessler’s works are widely collected by museums, corporations, and private collections internationally. His paintings have been exhibited worldwide since 1977 with shows in Tokyo, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and New York. Kessler’s paintings are in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum, the Minnesota Museum of Art and the United States Embassy among others. He is also represented in the corporate collections of IBM, Prudential Life Insurance, McDonald’s, AT&T, Clorox and others nationwide. The artist lives and works in Scottsdale, Arizona.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2012 Dean Day Gallery, Houston, TX
2012 M Contemporary, Annapolis, MD
2011 Stricoff Fine Art, New York, NY
2010 Phoenix Airport Museum, Phoenix, AZ
2009 O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY
2008 Bentley Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
2008 Susan Street Gallery, Solana Beach, CA
2007 Bentley Projects, Phoenix, AZ
2006 OK Harris Works of Art, New York, NY
2006 Ogilvie-Pertl Gallery, Chicago, IL
2006 Meyer East Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2004 Bentley Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
2004 Ogilvie-Pertl Gallery, Chicago, IL
2003 Vanier Galleries, Scottsdale, AZ
2002 Vanier Galleries, Scottsdale, AZ
2001 Davis Dominguez Gallery, Tucson, AZ
2000 Vanier Galleries, Scottsdale, AZ
1999 Vanier Galleries, Scottsdale, AZ
1996 Riva Yares Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
1996 Northern Arizona University Art Museum, Flagstaff, AZ
1996 Riva Yares Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
1987 Elaine Horwitch Galleries, Scottsdale, AZ
1985 Elaine Horwitch Galleries, Scottsdale, AZ
1983 Elaine Horwitch Galleries, Scottsdale, AZ
1983 Sedona Art Museum, Sedona, AZ
1981 Elaine Horwitch Galleries, Scottsdale, AZ
1979 Phil Descind’s Capricorn Gallery, Bethesda, MD
1977 Gallery 4, Alexandria, VA
1976 ADI Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1973 Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ

GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2012 Etra Fine Art, Miami, FL
2011/12 Art Basel, Miami, FL
2011 Ogilvie-Pertl Gallery, Chicago, IL
2010 Stricoff Fine Arts, New York, NY
2009 Plus One Gallery, London, England
2008 Ogilvie-Pertl Gallery, Chicago, IL
2007 Introductions II, Stremmel Gallery, Reno, NV
2006 “Arts Botanica” Loyola University Museum of Art, Chicago, IL
2005 “Paint of Metal” Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ
2005 “Paint of Metal” Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ
2003 “Hyperrealism, USA, 1965-1975″ Strasbourg Museum of Contemporary Art, Strausbourg, France
2002 “As Real as it Gets, Superrealism and Photorealism” Tucson Museum of Contemporary Art, Tucson, AZ
2001 Inaugural Show, Vanier Fine Art, Tucson, AZ
2000 Davis Dominguez Gallery, Tucson, AZ
1999 “New Acquisitions Show” Scottsdale Center for the Arts, Scottsdale, AZ
1997 “Landscapes” Virginia Miller Galleries, Miami, FL
1996 “Living with Art” Bruce Kapson Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
1996 Riva Yares Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
1995 “Paintings” Barrington Area Arts Center, Barrington, IL
1994 “Getting Real, 20th Century American Realism, South Bend Regional Museum of Art, South Bend, IN
1993 “Arizona Artists” Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, AZ
1992 Riva Yares Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
1989 “Exhibition of Master Works” Riva Yares Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
1989 Sazama Gallery, Chicago, IL
1988 “Elemental Visions/Personal Landscapes” Art Museum of South Texax, Corpus Christi, TX
1987 “Boundless Realism: Contemporary Landscape Painting of the West” The Rockwell Museum, Corning, NY
1987 “The Phil Sescind Collection” Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH
1986 Elaine Horwitch Galleries, Palm Springs, CA
1986 “Arizona Collects, 20th Century Painting” Tucson Museum of Contemporary Art, Tucson, AZ
1985 “Centennial Distinguished Alumni Exhibition, Arizona State University” The Arizona Bank Galleria, Phoenix, AZ
1984 “A Sense of Place: The Essence of Contemporary Southwest Art” Elaine Horwitch Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
1983 “The Southwest Invitational” Yuma, AZ
1982 “Contemporary Watercolors from Frumkin-Struve Gallery” University of Wisconsin Foster Art Gallery, Eau Clair, WI
1982 “14th Annual Watercolor West” Utah State University, Logan, UT
1981 “Watercolors” Dubins Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1981 “Contemporary American Watercolors” Illinois Bell, The Lobby Gallery, Chicago, IL
1980 “Watercolors 1980″ Frumkin-Struve Gallery, Chicago, IL