Pasatiempo, 2002

Surface Matters

by Robert Nott

Surface Builder - New Works by Michael Kessler at Nuart Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Here's a good "what if" scenario for you. What if you were faced with a doorway into a multilevel world of color where you could, perhaps, unearth some answers about art or nature or life?

Santa fe artist Michael Kessler's acrylic-on-panel multilayered pieces suggest doorways to just such a place. There's only one catch- these doors have no handles. You have to find your own way in, and once you've entered, you may have to find your own way out.

Even then you may not find the answers you are seeking.

"Appearances are deceptive, and anyone who is interested in the true nature of the universe knows that there are far more questions than answers." Kessler said , quoting from the artist's statement he had created. "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 futality of trying to know."

Judging by a look at the artist's current body of work, Kessler is succeeding. And Nuart Gallery 670 Canyon Road, is presenting some of Kessler's mysterious doors to nature with the exhibit Surface Builder. The show opens today, June 14, with a reception from 5 to 7 pm., and runs through July 2.

Nature plays a big role in Kessler's work and even acts as a collaborator in the creative process. He uses primarily earth tones in his work leading the viewer to see such natural elements as mountains, fog, rivers, and sky on the main surface.

But Kessler chose the title "Surface Builder" for a reason. He builds surfaces. Lots of them - upward of a 100. So if you take the time to really study one piece, you'll see past the veneer, that the works are like one of those models you studied in high school science where various levels of ground are peeling away, revealing shades of tone and nuaunce with each layer.

In short he's not really trying to capture the way nature looks literally but rather how it works, which despite any scientific analysis being done on the subject, is as challenging a goal as lassoing nebula in the sky.

"I'm building a surface, " Kessler explained. "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."

Kessler uses custom-made hand tools, including trowels and skimmers to lay and push layers of paint across the canvases, canvases that sometimes are first covered with etchings, rubbings, or symbols of some kind.

Often he lays the pieces aside to dry, allowing the sun, the wind, and other natural elements to play a hand in shaping the final product. Sometimes this approach leads to interesting rivulets winding their way across his surfaces.

The canvases are stretched over panels, giving off the illusion of a hard surface. Sometimes Kessler's facades sport lines and paneled squares that do suggest a wooden door - but again one without a visible handle or knob to open it.

The Pennsylvania native began making art as a child. He said there was no doubt in his mind - or in his parents mind - that he would become an artist. He's been luckier than most artists, for aside from a relatively brief period driving a school bus he's been able to eke out a living being creative.

He received a bachelor of fine arts degree from Kutztown University in Pennsylvania, which had a terrific visiting artist program he said, putting students in touch with well-known contemporary , art critics, and art writers, as well as an array of performing artists.

One such visitor was composer Phillip Glass, who gave Kessler this piece of advice: "Don't try to put your work out there until you're in your late twenties. Take the time time to develope it first. I know it hard to be that patient, but it's necessary."

Kessler followed the advice. Painting five or six hours every day while driving a bus, and he has always been happy that he did. His postacademic work was modeled in the stylw of Andrew Wyeth, with an emphasis on realistic portraits and landscapes. This current series of abstract acrylic works is part of a progression that has evolved well over 20 years, he said.

He doesn't preplan his work, trusting his instinctsto tell him what to do and where to go. He also doesn't dwell on lengthy explanations about what the work means. "It's like an improvisatory dance." he said of his work methods. "Like a series of sequential steps with each layer leading me to the next one. I compare it to feeling your way through a dark forest at night."

But isn't that a daunting prospect to face day after day?

"It is daunting." he replied. "But if you go through the forest at night enough times, eventually you get good at it."