Keszler Gallery

Exhibitor's Artists:

• Banksy
  Biography : One of the most intriguing artists of our time, eponymous and anonymous English graffiti artist Banksy quickly rose from obscurity to superstardom. Often compared to Basquiat, Haring and Warhol, Banksy has a unique voice and an unparalleled position in the art world. Banksy’s graffiti art first appeared in Bristol in the early 1990s. By the late 1990s he achieved infamy for his politically charged and socially satirical stencilled graffiti, which he secretly executed in London and other European cities. In 2000, he held his first formal exhibition in a Bristol restaurant where pieces sold for a few hundred pounds. In 2008, his work “Keep It Spotless” sold at Sotheby’s, New York for $1.8 million making him “the quickest growing artist…of all time,” according to Ralph Taylor of Sotheby’s. In 2010, “Exit Through the Gift Shop,” his film about an artist’s obsession with street art, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. The creation of the original street work “Out Of Bed Wall Rat” was featured in the film and was part of the Keszler Gallery’s 2011 and 2012 Banksy Street Works exhibitions in Southampton and Miami. Today, Banksy is regarded as an ironic icon within the international art community. He is a social anarchist yet has a dealer, an agent and a spokesperson. His original graffiti art sells for hundreds of thousands of dollars but his urban installations are regularly erased by city authorities. The Keszler Gallery is pleased to present several unique street works from the artist's October, 2013 NYC residency entitled "Better Out Than In." Keszler Gallery is one of the largest Banksy dealers in the United States and one of the few galleries to bring the artist’s street works to auction.
  Also exhibited by: Leslie Smith Gallery,
• Peter Anton
  Biography : Peter Anton has an innate reverence for all things foodie, believing that the things we eat and most enjoy serve as common denominators to celebrate life and unite people. Each unique sculpture is comprised of a complex mixture of wood, wire, resins, paint, paper, plastic and other materials. Through his artwork, Anton’s goal is to "surprise and tease, charm and disarm" the viewer through the use of humor, scale, irony, and intensity of color. The results are sculptures that stimulate primordial human needs and awaken our innermost cravings and passions. Peter Anton’s work has been featured in numerous solo exhibitions in the United States and abroad. The artist has also participated in group exhibitions in museums and galleries including the Austin Museum of Art in Texas, the Hudson River Museum in New York, the Fresno Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Nicolaysen Art Museum in Casper, Wyoming, the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut, the Madden Museum of Art in Denver, Colorado, the Castellani Art Museum in Niagara, New York, and the COPIA Museum in Napa Valley, California. Anton’s work has also been exhibited at art fairs around the world such as the Korean International Art Fair, Art Cologne, the Palm Beach Fine Art & Antique Fair, the Venice International Art Fair, Art Karlsruhe, Germany, Art Bodensee in Austria, the Salzburg Art Fair, the Hong Kong Art Fair, and Art Basel, Miami Beach. Anton’s work is held in dozens of prestigious private, corporate and museum collections including the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, the Jordanian Royal Family, architect Lord Norman Foster, Oppenheim Bank, Breitling Watches, Raymond James Financial, leading candy maker Perfetti Van Melle, the Arkansas Art Center, Coty Cosmetics, and President Bill Clinton.
  Also exhibited by: Unix Gallery,
• Marco Glaviano
  Biography : Marco Glaviano was born in Palermo, Sicily in 1942. He studied architecture at the University of Palermo before pursuing a full-time career in photography. He established a permanent studio in Milan where he produced photographs for major European magazines, including Italian Vogue. He quickly gained international notoriety, which led him to establish residence in New York City. Marco earned an exclusive contract with American Vogue in the 1970s and then with Harper’s Bazaar from 1982 to 1994. This work earned him a reputation among the world’s leading fashion photographers. His collaboration with Elite Models founder John Casablancas and Elite president Monique Pillard proved influential in developing the “supermodels” phenomenon, and he is most famous for shooting icons like Paulina Porizkova, Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer, Janice Dickinson, and Eva Herzigova. In 1995 Marco designed and founded PIER 59 STUDIOS in New York City, which is recognized as one of the most important photo studios in the world. His early interest in digital photography led him to publish the first-ever digital fashion picture in American Vogue in 1982. Marco also consulted for Kodak, Fuji, Hasselblad, Phase One, and other organizations to advance digital photography. In 2001 he co-developed MILANSTUDIO in Milan, serving as a showcase for the new digital frontier in fashion and art. His first solo show in Palermo was at the early age of 6. He has had numerous solo exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Milan, Palermo, Capri, and most recently London. His work is included in many important private collections worldwide, including the Cipriani collection in New York City. Additionally, Marco published ten books containing personal artistic photographs of the most famous supermodels and of his other passions, such as jazz, portraits and landscapes.
• Herr Nilsson
• Bert Stern
  Biography : American fashion, advertising, and celebrity portrait photographer Bert Stern is best known for his collection of photographs of Marilyn Monroe taken six weeks before her death in 1962. Over a three-day period, Stern took more than 2,500 photographs of the screen idol at the Bel Air hotel in Los Angeles. In 1992 on the thirtieth anniversary of her death, Stern published Marilyn Monroe: The Complete Last Sitting wherein he recounted being enchanted by her during the photo shoot before realizing she was deeply troubled. Stern also worked as a photographer on the film Lolita and shot the publicity photographs of Sue Lyon. He has photographed Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Drew Barrymore, Louis Armstrong, and Lindsay Lohan (recreating The Last Sitting) among many others. Stern also directed Jazz on a Summer’s Day, a 1959 documentary film set at the Newport Jazz Festival. In 1999 the film was deemed “culturally significant” by the United States Library of Congress and chosen for preservation in the National Film Registry. On exhibit at the Keszler Gallery are Bert Stern’s latest creations, selected images of Marilyn Monroe from The Last Sitting printed on sparkling silver and sparkling gold canvases then dusted with opalescent crystals.
• Russell Young
  Biography : It was over 20 years ago that British photographer Russell Young first lent his eye to celebrity culture. The assignment was photographing George Michael for the sleeve of an album called “Faith.” That job launched a career and soon Russell was shooting musicians like Morrissey, Springsteen, Dylan as well as many other celebrities. The next natural step was directing music videos; Russell directed more than 100 music videos during MTV’s heyday. Ten years into his career, Russell started painting, but his work remained private. It was not until 2003 when Young showed his first series of paintings called PIG PORTRAITS. This first exhibition quickly sold out. Since then, Young has become an internationally acclaimed pop artist, creating larger than life silkscreen paintings from history and pop culture. “My work is sort of soundtrack to my life, loves, experiences and influences. My method of working is to search, destroy and create. The idea to create "anti-celebrity" portraits was probably a reaction to my former career. However, they turned out to be even more beautiful and iconic. There is undeniably this attitude that is very real, in your face, a beauty that is hard to ignore.“ Russell Young has risen to become one of the most collected and sought after artists of our time. His Marilyn Monroe Crying portraits have sold on the secondary market for upwards of $50,000. Celebrities and collectors from the most discriminating to novice have added Russell’s works to their collections. His larger than life screen print images from history and popular culture are compelling, daunting, and undeniable.