Kessler’s canvases are mural size, yet his brushes would not be unwieldy in the hands of a Lilliputian. His rainbows wrestle in glamorous clouds. Turn one degree left or right, or wear thicker soled shoes, and you’ll see something different in his hyperreal swirls of icy blue, bronze, silver, gold and fire.
Kessler says he travels to these extraterrestrial skyscapes in his dreams. He’s not saying they’re inventions of his fertile imagination. He’s claiming his spirit traverses alien atmospheres while his body lies as still as the comatose. He dismisses the ridicule of skeptics with the indifference of a man mocked by preschoolers.
Kessler’s latest painting is allegedly a portion of Mars that’s never been mapped, a barren, igneous pit the size of a backyard swimming pool. The pixie high rock formation in the centre looks like it might have been sculpted. There are photographs of the region in question, but none detailed enough to confirm or deny Kessler’s unlikely story.
At the time of writing, the latest rover to roam the Red Planet is inching closer to Kessler’s Hole, as the Tabloids call it. The terrain is too treacherous for that colossal mobile science lab to traverse, but one of its helicopters is charging its batteries in preparation for flight.
Not since the first moon landing have Earthlings so keenly anticipated any moment in time. Autonomous ships from more advanced civilisations monitor the outcome from afar. Phobos and Deimos have paused mid orbit to admire the spectacle, in cartoons at least.
© Rodney Hunter, 2024
The Surreal Art Psychonaut 