Photo: Horst Willi Kurschat
Susanne Kessler was born in Wuppertal, lives in Rome and Berlin.
She studied painting and graphics at the University of the Arts (UdK) in Berlin and at the Royal College of Art (RCA) in London (MfA). She won the DAAD scholarship, the scholarship of the Goslar Kaisering and in 2022 the Von der Heydt – Kulturpreis of the city of Wuppertal. Work trips took her to Ethiopia, Guatemala, Mali, Pakistan, India, China and Iran. All these places have left their mark on her work. As a guest lecturer, she taught at California State University (CSU) and as a professor of sculpture and drawing at City University New York (CUNY). She had solo exhibitions, among others, in the Von-der-Heydt Museum Wuppertal, Gustav Lübcke Hamm Museum, Landesmuseum Mainz, Kunstverein Speyer, Klingenmuseum Solingen, Nassauischer Kunstverein Wiesbaden, Museum Schloss Moyland Castle, Mönchehaus Museum Goslar, National College of Art Lahore, Kunst Museum Solingen, Goethe-Institut Rome, Goethe-Institut Washington/DC, Sala Santa Rita, Rome, IT, Museum Maam, Museum Macro, Rome, Museum Gam, Rome, Cantieri alla Zisa, Palermo, Gallery Chemould, Mumbai, Lalit Kala Academi New Delhi, Taleghani Artist Forum Tehran, Andrew Shiva Gallery New York, Galerie M Berlin, Foundation DominoArt Reutlingen, American University Museum, Katzen Art Center, Washington/DC, Museum BoCS Art, Cosenza, Museum Kunst der Westküste, Alkersum, KV Würzburg, KV Lippstadt and in the Kunstmuseum Bayreuth.
Ulrike Wolff-Thomsen, director of the Museum Kunst der Westküste, wrote in 2018:
The multitude and multishapes of Susanne Kessler’s work, which within the overall project consists of objects, models, films, drawings and installations, is extremely impressive.
In addition, it is fascinating to see how all works exhibit autonomy while also connecting with each other, and referring to the line that began at the origin of all creation—the line that interconnects everything. In a quasi-organic growth process the line develops continuously – at times very abstractly, at times by way of linking and condensing. A more variegated artistic vision, like a musical fugue, is hardly imaginable.
CV and list of exhibitions in PDF