Today we’d like to introduce you to Eli Kessler.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I am an artist and educator based in Kent, Ohio, who grew up in a rural farming community in Pennsylvania. In 2002, I moved to Philadelphia to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the Tyler School of Art at Temple University. While living in Philadelphia and attending art school, I encountered many exciting perspectives and experiences that expanded my understanding of art and culture. In 2006, I graduated with a degree in Painting and Sculpture and began Virginia Commonwealth University’s MFA program in Sculpture + Extended Media. While at VCU, I was immersed in a dynamic and rigorous community of artists. That experience helped solidify my understanding of art and community as transformative and liberating. Since completing my MFA degree in 2008, I have taught art at universities and colleges in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, and Ohio while continuing to make and exhibit artwork nationally and internationally.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I feel like I’ve been down many paths and experienced many things I could have never predicted. For me, it’s important to learn from experiences as a way to clarify and expand upon my worldview and personal values. I’m just now starting to understand the cultural and societal systems I was born into and how those systems have changed over time and impacted my life. Experiencing a major economic recession, global pandemic, and mounting ecological uncertainty has made me pause and question the ethics of hierarchical systems of power, privilege, and progress. When I completed my graduate degree in 2008, the recession made it extremely challenging to function as an artist and have financial stability. During that period, I worked numerous part-time jobs and read books on self-sufficiency and sustainable living while reflecting on my family’s agricultural lifestyle during the late 1800s and how it contrasted with my life in the early 2000s. By 2012, my art practice gained momentum, and I began to make artwork to understand how material, technique, and imagery are intertwined with the ideology of a particular time. In 2019, the pandemic had a considerable impact on me. Throughout that time, I grew even closer to my family, and my artwork began to focus on humanity’s dependency on technology and infrastructure.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
As an artist, I approach artmaking as a way to examine particular artifacts, rituals, and cultural phenomena. Within my practice, materials and iconography are cut up, rematerialized, and arranged to find meaning. The resulting artwork addresses the psychological implications of complex social structures and offers a glimpse into ideological beliefs throughout time.
My recent work analyzes existence within a world of hyper-digital industrialization and ecological uncertainty. This new work demonstrates an ongoing interest in creating sculptural structures and forms that draw parallels and react to societal structures. The sculptures reimagine obscure folk art through the utilization of rapid prototyping, venture into expressive material abstraction, and experiment with video and perceptual distortion. Processes such as metal fabrication, woodworking, casting, video, and digital fabrication techniques are combined, intermixing history and materiality.
Perpetual Interface, Anthropocene Hex Sign, and Fear of the Unknown: Haunting Abstraction are a series of sculptural works created from 2019-2021 that address humanity’s increasing reliance on digital tools and interfaces. Comprised of a server cabinet, Perpetual Interface contains a video portrait of a child whose identity becomes transformed by an optical grid. The continually looping video creates a space where human existence is confined to a virtual world. The sculpture creates a discussion about how virtuality simultaneously alters human identity and extends the physiological limits of the human body.
Anthropocene Hex Sign is a geometric sculpture composed of a network of hexagons, LED lights, and moth and butterfly specimens. The piece highlights humanity’s dependence on electricity and consumption of natural resources to examine how complex human systems have impacted ecology. The sculpture incorporates butterfly and moth specimens sourced from organizations that breed and release insects to improve diminishing pollinator populations. Additionally, the piece references late 19th and early 20th century Pennsylvania Dutch hex sign barn paintings composed of geometric and biological forms that acted as omens to promote bountiful agricultural harvest and protect livestock. Through the use of referential material and forms, Anthropocene Hex Sign exists as a contemporary ecological omen that promotes the reevaluation of industrialized consumption.
Fear of the Unknown: Haunting Abstraction is an abstract sculpture carved from laminated dimensional lumber. The dimensional lumber, a geometric product of industrial manufacturing, is glued together and hand-carved back into an organic form. The wooden surface of the sculpture—covered with forceful gouge marks—reference the human hand. The form, color, and surface of the sculpture appear alien and are an example of how humans have become alienated from nature. The resulting piece occupies a tense space that depicts the destruction of nature as an abstract and abject expression.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
There are so many people that have positively influenced my life. My parents introduced me to artmaking at a young age, and I’m always inspired by their contributions as public school educators. While I was growing up, my parent’s friend Bruce Reinhold, was an antique dealer specializing in American primitives, antique photography, and historical oddities. Bruce taught me how to understand the historical narrative of objects and value their cultural significance. My college peers and professors were influential in framing my idea of what it means to be an artist. All of the students I’ve worked with over the years deserve credit because they have kept me optimistic about the future of art. And most importantly, my wife Jamie, son Elliot, and wife’s parents Tracy and Joe have shown me how important family and friendship are.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.elikesslerstudio.com
Image Credits
Kessler Alaina
Kessler Steve Margita
