I love contemporary art and I love to experiment. I am fascinated by all the fantastic possibilities in art, especially the colours, light and shadows, the play with space. My work can be close to the object, but often strays quite far from it.
It is also important to me that my artwork is professionally done. In this regard Basel School of Design (SfG) was an important point of reference for me for many years already during my earlier professional career. The regular evening classes I attended there over many semesters laid the foundation for my current artistic work. Later, I was lucky enough to study painting with wonderful teachers who generously shared their time, knowledge and skills with me.
All my life I have felt like a learner. And since learning never stops in art, I look forward to going on a journey of discovery in my own studio every day.
I usually work and play in larger or smaller series. I try out new painting techniques (‘Kaiserstuhl’, ‘Divers’, ‘Something Deep Inside’), work on a specific theme (e.g. ‘Hope’, ‘No Paradise’), play with colors (‘Color Studies’, ‘Left Overs’) etc. Sometimes I simply work according to self-imposed rules, such as producing a painting or drawing every day (‘Portrait Studies’, ‘Daily Sketches’). For me, working in series is a good way to learn and get more involved with myself and my art – true to the motto: ‘You don’t wait for inspiration, you just work’.
For some of these series, I have written exposés that roughly explain what I had in mind. You will also find photos of further works belonging to a series. The pdfs are available for download below.
2024 Portrait Studies
2024 Oil Paint Monoprints
2024 I Look at You Series
2023 Kaiserstuhl Series
2023 No Paradise Series
2023 Divers Series
2022-2024 Left Overs-Series
2022 Hope Series
2020 - 2022 Lab Notes 01 and 02
2020 Something Deep Inside
2020 Forest Series
2020 Cubes - Japan Series
2021 Daily Sketches Project
2019 Sumo Series
2019 Devils Claw Series
2019 A Short Story - Artist Book
2009 under the snow line - Artist Book
E-Mail: info@ulrikekessler.art
Vita
Exhibitions
2024
Participation "Paradise Lost?", Stapflehus Museum Weil a. Rh., Germany.
2024
Participation "Spuren der Zeit", Dreiländermuseum Loerrach, Germany.
2024
Participation "Mail Art", Markgräfler Museum Muellheim, Germany.
2023
Participation "Kreativität ist frei sein", Markgräfler Museum Muellheim, Germany.
2023
Participation Winter Exhibition Art Associations Lörrach, Schopfheim, and Weil am Rhein, Germany.
2020
Participation Ateliertage Sulzburg, Sulzburg, Germany.
2020
Solo-Exhibition "Something Deep Inside": Paintings, Drawings, Artist Books, Freiburg, Germany.
2019
Exhibition "Traces": Drawings, Paintings, Prints (together with Helen Boyd), Hong Kong, China.
2018
Participation Ateliertage Sulzburg, Sulzburg, Germany.
2010
Participation "Seite um Seite", Forum Künstlerbuch Basel, at Galerie Zimmermannhaus, Brugg, Switzerland.
Works in private art collections
Basel (Switzerland), Berlin (Germany), Düsseldorf (Germany), Freiburg (Germany), Hamburg (Germany), Hong Kong (China), Minneapolis (MN, U.S.A), Müllheim (Germany), New York (NY, U.S.A), Sao Paolo (Brazil), Vancouver (Canada), Wien (Austria), Zürich (Switzerland).
Education (art-related)
2023 and 2024
Akademie der Bildenden Künste (Academy of the Fine Arts) Kolbermoor, Germany: Summer Academy with Prof. Markus Lüpertz, Berlin, Germany.
2023
Black Pond Studio, Rehobot, MA, U.S.A.: Several seminars with Jennifer Pochinski, BFA, Providence, RI, U.S.A.
2022
Akademie der Bildenden Künste (Academy of the Fine Arts) Kolbermoor, Germany: Advanced Seminar Drawing and Painting, with Felix Eckardt, Hamburg, Germany.
2021 - 2023
Freie Kunstakademie Augsburg, Germany, and Kunstfabrik Wien, Austria: Several seminars with Mag. Bogdan Pascu, Vienna, Austria.
2021 - 2023
Weekly evening classes (online) with Felix Eckardt, Hamburg, Germany.
2021 - 2022
Akademie der Bildenden Künste (Academy of the Fine Arts) Kolbermoor, Germany: One-year study programme Drawing and Painting, with Felix Eckardt, Hamburg, Germany.
2019
Kunstakademie Allgäu, Germany: Grossformatige Malerei (Large Scale Painting), with Dagmar Wassong, Trier, Germany.
2018 and 2019
International Summer Academy of Fine Arts Venice, Italy: Several Painting Masterclasses, with Wolf Werdigier, Vienna, Austria, and Virginie Bailly, Brussels, Belgium.
2018
Landscapes Summer Course, with Johannes Buchholz, Berlin and Essen, Germany.
2018
Art Students League, New York, U.S.A.: Painting, Composition, Color: class of Margret McCann, New York, U.S.A., and Expressive Watercolor: class of Elizabeth Allison, New York, U.S.A.
2017 - 2021
School of Applied Arts / Schule fuer Gestaltung, SfG, Basel, Switzerland: Drawing Experiments: class of Esther Hiepler, Basel; Experimental Pictorial Processes: class of Simone Berger, Liestal; Elementary Colour: class of Liliane Steiner, Basel; Clay Portrait Studies, Wood Sculpture with Ellen Baumbusch, Sulzburg, Germany; Stone Sculpture with Sebastian Probst, Cologne, Germany.
2009
School of Applied Arts / Schule fuer Gestaltung, SfG, Basel, Switzerland: Relief printing, toner transfer, experimental printing: class of Krassimira Drenska Wirz, Basel, SfG.
1998 - 2021
Regular attendance at evening classes at School of Applied Arts / Schule fuer Gestaltung, SfG, Basel, Switzerland: drawing, nude drawing, photography, etching, engraving, serigraphy.
1995 - 1998
First art courses at the local community centre: drawing, nude drawing, oil painting and art history with Johannes Buchholz (now Berlin and Essen), among others.
Curriculum vitae (Selection)
Since 2025
Member of Gemeinschaft der Künstlerinnen und Kunstfördernden (GEDOK) Südbaden (Association of female visual artists and art funders, Südbaden Section).
Since 2024
Member of Berufsverband Bildender Künstler (BBK) Südbaden (German professional association of visual artists, Südbaden Section).
Since 2024
Member of Art Association Artischock, Zurich, Switzerland.
Since 2023
Member of Verein Bildende Kunst (Visual Arts Association), Loerrach, Germany.
Since 2022
Member of Kunstverein (Arts Association), Weil am Rhein, Germany.
Since 2018
Working freelance in my own studio.
2014-2022
Swiss International Law School (SiLS) Co-Founder (2014), Educational director (2014-2017), CEO (2017-2018), Chair of SiLS Association (2018-2022).
2007-2010
Master studies at the University of Central Lancashire, graduation (MSc) with a qualitative study on the quality of the education at a private Swiss educational institution in 2011.
1985-2014
Psychotherapist and homoeopathic practitioner, teacher, and supervisor in Freiburg, Germany and Basel, Switzerland.
Numerous travels (India, Egypt, United States, Patagonia, Japan, Hong Kong, Bhutan, Thailand, New Zealand, Cameroon, Fidji, Tonga, Bali, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Australia, Guatemala, Mexico, Seychelles, Iceland, and others).
1956
Born in Rockenhausen, Germany. Married.