Ohne Titel

Wolfgang Kessler has been a rigorous devotee of realistic painting for many years. In his pictures the supposed objectivity of photography meets the subjectivity of painting in a comparison of differences. The truth postulate of an omnipresent photography, which to this day is willingly conceded, is skillfully called into question by the artist’s photorealism. What we see is a painted picture. It is not a mirror of reality, but a work of art which is the product of numerous decisions and working steps.

Kessler consciously dispenses with bright colors, staging a woman and a chair, pushed to the left hand edge of the picture, against a reduced dark background. There is nothing more to be seen in the painting »Untitled« from 1990, nevertheless the painting radiates an atmosphere that inspires interpretations and stories. It is a prime example of Wolfgang Kessler’s early works, the majority of which feature a full body portrait of a woman. The woman’s gaze is devout-dreamy to stoic, or simply directed into empty space, as if the model is patiently waiting for the end of the sitting. The women receive objects such as garden hoses or drain pipes as accessories, which appear to lead their own life, or at the very least—as in the case of the empty chair—are not used for their actual purpose.

The depicted object world is reminiscent of things experienced, used, already existent, and can be read allegorically. In contrast to traditional painting, these objects neither follow formal rules nor do they possess fixed meanings. Instead they are extracted from their original environment, and thus change their substantive mission. The black background provides the stage for the viewers' ideas which are granted the sovereignty of interpretation. Black is the “thinking color”, and in Kessler’s works repeatedly functions as the color of nothing and everything.