KELLY MESSER

American Abstract Painter (Oil)

Chicago, IL | Website: kellymesser.com | Inquiries: kellymesser.com/contact | Instagram: @kellymesserstudios

Group Exhibitions

Juried Events

2023: Featured Display, Good Roots© (Featured in Forbes, Architectural Digest, and HGTV), Glen Ellyn, IL
2022: Art In The Time Of Corona, Dab Art Gallery, Artsy (Virtual Exhibition)
2022: Featured Artist, Woman Crush Wednesday, Chicago Women’s Caucus for Art, Chicago, IL

2020-2023: Space Series
Series investigating the creation of richness and consciousness within fixed, unforgiving spaces. Explores how material pressure and the constraint of time necessitate profound metamorphosis.
2022: Shaping the Edge Series
Collection of large-scale abstract oil works exploring the dialectical intersection of growth and tension.
2019: Viscera Series
Abstract painting series utilizing heavy impasto and immediate gesture to explore core themes of transition and visceral expression.
2017 | The Push Painting
Singular, catalytic work marking the definitive conceptual and aesthetic transition from representational practice to abstract expression.

2015: Guitar World Magazine, January Issue. (Feature on commissioned artwork for the instrumental album Starbound).

2006: OSI Showroom, NeoCon, Chicago, IL (Integrated large-scale paintings and design elements)
2005–2010: Private Collections (Various commissioned works)

2025: Conceptual Development: Line, Time, and Division and Sustainable Research
Dedicated formal exploration into utilizing oil sticks to represent temporal and compositional divisions in abstract work. Sustainable Studio Practice focuses on material safety for during production and the environment, including the reduction of cadmium pigments and the adoption of non-toxic alternatives like walnut oil, and linseed oil over petroleum-based solvents.
2022: Strategic Development
Completed Visual Artist Accelerator Program, culminating in the launch of the “Shaping the Edge Series.” Focus on professional market positioning and production efficiency.
2021: Kelly Messer Studio Establishment, Highland Park, IL
Established 1200 sq. ft. facility with professional-grade amenities (15 ft ceilings, dedicated digital processing and inventory areas) optimized for concurrent creation of large-scale canvases.

2009: Continuing Education Studies, Columbia College Chicago, Chicago, IL (Studies in History of Communication. Design and Design Lab.)
2005: Studio Intensive Oil Painting (Portraiture), Private Studio, Chicago, IL
2003: Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.), Concentration in Interior Design, University of Wisconsin-Stout, Menomonie, WI (CIDA and NASAD Accredited Program. Foundational studies included Life Drawing and Art History/Theory.)