510 N. Washington St., Alexandria, VA 22314 Ph. 703-549-3313

Willi Kissmer was born in Duisburg, Germany in 1951.  Multi-talented as a teenager, he was undecided whether to dedicate himself to the visual arts or to music.  He studied at the Folkwangscule, University of Essen and later taught printmaking at the University of Duisburg.  As for music, Kissmer is now an accomplished guitarist and has recorded three albums to date.

Although Kissmer’s art is relatively new to North America, the artist is no stranger to America, Europe, Russia and Asia, through which he has traveled extensively.  Described as a young contemporary master, Kissmer’s art has been the focus of numerous shows in galleries and museums from California to Siberia.  The artist employs combinations of etching, aquatint, drypoint, and mezzotint techniques on his copperplates.  A range of warm tones and the talent to bring an electrifying edge to his subject links Kissmer’s art to a long tradition of realism in northern European painting.  For this, he has built a solid reputation and avid following in Europe and rapidly emerging interest in North America.

Still life, and an obsession with the qualities of light and its effect upon objects within them, is the subject of Kissmer’s art.  Elements of his still life include combinations of everyday objects, residential architecture and the female figure.  A disquieting sense of heightened observation, limited palette and shaker-like simplicity create moving works that are not conventionally pretty but compelling and somewhat confrontational.  Kissmer’s expressive, exaggerated interpretation of detail is a trait which permeates the body of his art.  The interchange of folds, creases and texture of draped fabric, for example, have the effect of transforming a commonplace subject into something extraordinary.  The artist maintains that this surreal quality is not intentional.  He says clothes and fabrics emanate calmness, they have something meditative.