Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Portraits Of St. Louis Artists: Bradford Kessler

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Bradford Kessler 2

Like me, Brad Kessler is a lawyer. We both have an artistic outlet. He makes powerful primitivist paintings, I make photographs of lawyers who make powerful primitivist paintings.

Kessler is one of the leading criminal defense lawyers in St. Louis. You can see much of the turbulence of his professional life expressed in his art.

10 comments:

Olivier said...

CA ressemble un peu a du Basquiat, portrait d'un rebel

cieldequimper said...

I might need an artistic outlet. Superb portrait.

PerthDailyPhoto said...

I think it's fantastic Bob to be able to let your hair down and do something completely different from your chosen profession, it's pretty serious stuff law, so it probably keeps you a little more 'loose' having an outlet. He looks like a pretty 'cool' guy.

brattcat said...

it's such fun to look at your two portraits side by side...yours of Kessler, and the professional shot of you in your suit. another very telling portrait, bob.
re 'crime in brattleboro': i left a note for you on your july 31st post, before the piece aired. listening to it yesterday, i was surprised at how little of archer's quirky and lightning quick humor peeped through. he must have been on his best behavior. the irony is that brattleboro, usually a very peaceful town, is dealing with a murder (we have one every year or so)...the body just discovered a few days ago. and not far from here another body just discovered...joe gunther, archer's protagonist, will have plenty of work in the next book, i think, because archer mayor is not only a very good crime writer but he's also very much a working member of the emergency crews serving our county.

Pat said...

I think he does t-shirts, too! Good portrait...did you set him up on purpose to mirror, almost, the figure on the left....? His stance, his real right hand reflecting the hand on the painting...I'll stop there... ;)

Luis Gomez said...

Very nice portrait Bob!

Birdman said...

I like what I see.

T. Becque said...

Lol! I like the work he does, and I like yours too!

Stefan Jansson said...

I like his style. And your portrait.

Jack said...

Again, marvelous. If you lined up ten random guys, he would have been my tenth guess for prominent lawyer. But, despite lawyers' reputations (and I am one, too), I think many have artistic impulses. The best have creativity, and sometimes it is paired with strong visual abilities.