Kessler’s art is fantasy in complete future tense: he wishes to create a world where balanced architecture and perfect natural beauty do justice to
men’s inner experience. He invokes the imagination or better yet through his work surprises the expectant viewer by adding just a whiff of esthetics to reality and therefore making it bearable. Geofictive Art, Free Work Cartán is an archipelago that kept their independance through their bizarre geography. The vast empires on the mainland of Pangeo (the planet on which Cartán lies) have colonized the island but never the outbacks dominated with caves, gaps and vertical mountain ridges. Above you’ll find a visualization of the ancient capital of the cartan outbacks. The map of the canton Siracarta (2001) Bantai (2003) pen drawing/ water colour a drawing of fortified city in the outbacks of the Bantai (Nikublia). The Bantai has a lot in common with Cartán, a part of the population of the the metropolises along the nikublian north coast fled to the outbacks in time of war, where they sought refuge in giant trees. The forest giants left their mark on the economy, the architecture and the overall atmosphere of Nikublia. Image of a pirates nest in the jungle, south in the Bantai. (Pen drawing 2003)
Image of the financial centre of the metropolis Mainun on the edge of the Bantai. The architecture is related to the used material: The timber of the forest giants of the Bantai, the so called Buaco- tree. (Pen drawing 2004) Image of a city ruin in the border area of the Bantai. (Pen drawing 2003) The magic forest of balls from 1996, A5 Format (Birth Card) Illustrated maps of the Bantai (2003) Cascadiamente (Oil Painting, 2001, 100x100cm) Imaginary garden landscape. (Oil Painting, 1996, 200x100cm)
Inspired by his residence on estate the Olmenhorst in 1991, Kessler has painted a large number of imaginary garden landscapes between 1991 and 1999.
Bardazo, oil painting, 100x50cm and Lizzy 1986 oil painting 60x100cm Palmlake, oil painting 1990, 40x30cm Jan-Willemskrone pen drawing 1985, 100x50cm In 1998 Martijn Kessler returned to the Olmenhorst in a period when they were changing to a more recreational function. Martijn designed the company style and this label a.o. Carthogonan, 1987 Lisse 2001, pen drawing 800 years Lisse The gnome village, free adaptation of a commission for a pancake restaurant. 1996 Oil paintings commissioned by private parties. (1992 and 1996). Mural in Martijn Kessler’s studio with the nymph Urania, 1994 and Landscape in Portugal, 1985.
Geofiction and Art
Reality and Fantasy, they seem to contradict each other. In his oilpaintings Kessler weaves them into a memory of later; he aims to give his buildings and constructions a beauty which is an addition to their perfect surroundings, nature. An image of things to come. His work can not be captured in a coarse net of figurative-, magical-realistic or fine painting techniques.
The most recent work of Martijn Kessler focuses on drawings and stories for the interaction-project of the Society for Geofiction, where some 50 people are embroiled in creating “Mirror worlds”. Through publications they share experiences, create common histories and settle feuds on their imaginary planets. For example, he extensively charted his selfmade archipelago Cartán and visualized its bizarre geography. Also he made many maps and drawings of the territories in Nikublia, a tropical country partially colonized by the cartans.
There are only three roads leading into the canton, they partly run through a complex of enormous caves.
Commissioned by an advertising agency.
