Susanne Kessler

Susanne Kessler (1955 in Wuppertal) is a German - Italian painter, illustrator and installation artist.
Life
From 1975 - 1982 Susanne Kessler studied painting and graphic at the University of the Arts (Arts) in Berlin and the Royal College of Art (RCA) in London. In 1992 she won the Paul Strecker Award of the City of Mainz.
In addition to scholarships and artist residencies more than 50 solo exhibitions and numerous group exhibitions have taken her throughout Europe and to India, Pakistan, Mali Ethiopia, Guatemala, Iran, Latvia and the USA (Turlock, CA, Washington, DC, New York, NY, Charlottesville, VA).
2001/2002 she has served as a guest professor at the California State University - Stanislaus, USA, followed at the Latvian Academy of Arts in Riga, Latvia in 2010 and at the City University of New York, NY, USA in 2011.

Susanne Kessler lives in Berlin/Germany and Rome/Italy.
Work
Susanne Kessler is well-known for her expansive, organic-like installations. Primarily based on drawing, she has been concentrating on natural, living structures for many years. Some of her work is dedicated to imagery of the internal organs like the human brain, with its visual appearance and its inner complex structure, is discussed. It is the brain as a source for everything that comes into being and exists in the world, for all the perceptibleness, and as a source of human consciousness. According to Kessler only the limitation to the brain, with individual thinking and visualizing, promotes an "ego-construction", which moves away from science and into an artistic world.
Thought fragments and trains of thoughts that deal continually with biological models, often integrated by Kessler into a system of drawings, forming a complex net of overlapping patterns and poetic content. Moreover her installations give the image of an organic network by combining scientific drawings with her own ideas and associations. "The branched life remains mysterious and explosive, like a cocoon...," she once described it. In the center of her work the Wheel of Life, the principle of life, is made visible as a flow of vital energy, as an ever-changing process reflecting at the same time the work process of the artist. Series of drawings are constantly involved in new installations in order to renew from within. This results include spaces of graphic signs and symbols, integrating some of the kinetic energy of the location.
Each installation art will be adapted directly onsite developing deep connections to the surrounding. The initial point is a transition moment, considering the Wheel of Life is only visible in its temporary existence. It all begins, exists and vanishs. Because of space conditions and site-specific dynamics the typified conceptual work by Susanne Kessler symbolizes her view of evolution.
As an intercept point on the roads between ancient and current conditions the work of Susanne Kessler remains on both sides at the same distance, although it is always influenced by space and material, but internally independent.
Awards and scholarships
* 1982 DAAD Fellowship, Royal College of Art, London / GB
* 1984 scholarship from the German-French Youth Office, Paris / F
* 1992 Paul Strecker Award, Mainz
* 1995 grant from the city of Goslar Kaiser Ring
* 1995 - 1996 Artist in Residence, Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi / IND
* 1996 Max Mueller Bhavan, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Chennai / IND
* 1996 Goethe-Institut Lahore / PK
* 2001 - 2002 Visiting Professor and Artist in Residence, California State University, Stanislaus, CA / USA
* 2003 Artist in Residence, Fajr Festival, Tehran / IR
* 2005 Member of the "viewing programs, artist registry" and invitation to "Artist Talk" to "The Drawing Center New York, NYC, USA
* 2007 Artist in Residence, Second Street Gallery, Charlottesville, VA, USA
* 2008 International Symposium "Dialogue", Art Academy, Riga, LT
* 2010 Guest Lecturer and Artist in Residence, Art Academy Riga / LT
* 2011 Visiting Professor and Artist in Residence, City University of New York / USA
Exhibitions (selection)
* 2011 Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, USA
* 2010 ex-GIL, Rome / IT
* 2010 Museo Faina and Ex-convento di San Giovanni, Orvieto / IT (solo)
* 2010 WHITECONCEPTS, Berlin
* 2009 Gallery Epikur, Wuppertal (solo)
* 2009 Gallery Inga Kondeyne, Berlin
* 2008 Galleria Dora Diamanti, Rome / IT (solo)
* 2008 John Jay University Gallery, City University New York, NY, USA (solo)
* 2007 Second Street Gallery, Charlottesville, VA, USA (solo, site-specific)
* 2005 Nassauischer Kunstverein Wiesbaden
* 2005 American Association of the Advancement of Science, Washington DC (in cooperation with the Goethe Institut Washington / USA) (solo)
* 2003 Fajr Festival, Taleghani Artist Forum, Tehran, IR (solo)
* 2001 Gustav Lübke Museum Hamm (solo)
* 2000 Cantieri alla Zisa / Goethe Institut Palermo / IT (solo)
* 1999 Beuys Archive-Museum Schloss Moyland (solo)
* 1995 Mönchehaus Museum of Contemporary Art, Goslar (solo)
* 1995 Von der Heydt Museum, Wuppertal (solo)
* 1994 Muncipal Gallery, Albstadt (solo)
* 1992 National Museum Mainz (solo)
Literature
* 1993 Bonito Oliva, Achille: Gran Delubro, L’Arte. Edizione Carte Segrete, Exhibition Erice, La Salerniana, Ex Convento di San Carlo, Italy
* 1995 Becker, Wolfgang: The Burden of the Bunker- transforming a line of defense. In: Fredsskulptur 1995. Elle-Mie Ejdrup Hansen
* 1996 Matusche, Petra: Inner Energies and Outer Spaces. In: Susanne Kessler in India and Pakistan 1995-1996. Exhibition Max Mueller Bhavan, Hyderabad, Madras, Lait Kala Academi, New Delhi, India, Goethe Institut Lahore, Pakistan; Museum Abtei Liesborn / ISBN 81-900739-0-7
* 2003 Karshenas, Majid: Love resurrects humanity. In: Susanne Kessler - Persian Diary . Exhibition Artist Forum Taleghani, 2003 Tehran, Iran / ISBN 3-86611-024-3
* 2008 Farrington, Lisa: The Art of Dualities. In: Susanne Kessler, Drawing Space - The New York Room. Exhibition City University - John Jay Gallery, New York, NY, USA
* 2010 Canova, Lorenzo: La rete segreta della cose. In Ritmo e Linea. Exhibition Ex- Convento di San Giovanni , Orvieto, Italy
* 2010 Canova, Lorenzo. Sbandati. Mostra Ex-GIL Roma, Italy, Edizione riverberi sonori / ISBN 9-79075-0045-0
Links
* Homepage Susanne Kessler
* The Drawing Center
* Washington Project for the Arts
* Gallery Epikur
* Galeria Dora Diamanti
* Gallery WHITECONCEPTS

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