Jon Kessler
Brooklyn, NY
Jon Kessler
Jon Kessler was born in Yonkers in 1957. He earned a B.F.A. from SUNY Purchase. Known for his kinetic sculptures and multi-media installations, his work critiques the current obsession with images and surveillance and explores themes of anxiety and climate crisis via found objects combined with motorized machines. Structurally complex and narratively engaging, Jon Kessler’s multimedia sculptures often deliver an emotional punch beyond their humble means.
For The Artist Profile Archive video, Kessler was filmed in his Brooklyn studio in 2019. He is currently a professor at the School of the Arts at Columbia University. Kessler's work is included in many significant collections including the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Walker Art Center, the Israel Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.
Jon Kessler in his studio - 13:58
“You don’t retire as an artist. We’re chained to this profession. It’s not like we’re 65, and it’s time to go to Miami. This is it. We do this until we die. And so, how do you continue to do this and challenge yourself, and be excited in the studio to wake up every day and want to come to your studio and do what makes you happy? You’re going to make other people happy. It’s just going to come through in the work. And I think that’s super, super important. ”
“And I think there is this drive now that all work has to somehow be socially relevant or be doing the world some good or— no. I don’t think so. I think what’s most important is that it’s that expression- that being an artist and expressing yourself is a positive thing. It’s showing autonomy, showing agency, and that you, as a person in the world, matter.”
