Alex Kiessling

The paintings of artist Alex Kiessling flicker; are sharp and blurred at the same time. Starting from the classical medium of the canvas painting, Kiessling's technique and motifs build a bridge from the past to the multimedia present.The juxtaposition and superimposition of similar layers creates the impression that the medium of painting has liquefied, and with it the former representational character of earlier portrait paintings. Through his technique of "sight-obstructing shifts," which the artist calls "shifts," the image and the eye seem to be set in motion. A pause, a focusing or a concentration of the gaze, as we know it from the reception of traditional painting, Kiessling seems to intentionally withhold from the viewers. Rather, he aims to bring something else to our attention: Our existence in flux. Alex Kiessling was born in Vienna in 1980 and studied painting at the University of Applied Arts. In addition to his hometown, Kiessling has been represented at exhibitions and fairs in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Berlin and Shanghai (among others). In 2014, his works were on display in the Austrian Pavilion at the Dak'Art Biennale Off in Dak