The Elusive One

Ananda Kesler (born 1976 Haifa, Israel) has exhibited her paintings in galleries throughout the U.S. and abroad, including Galerie Metanoia in Paris, France; Galleria Il Sottoportego, in Venice, Italy; LACDA, Corridor 2122 Gallery, Crussell Fine Art Gallery, in California; David Barnett Gallery in Wisconsin; ICON Gallery, Teeple Hansen Gallery, Corner House Gallery, and Gallery 56 in Iowa. Kesler has exhibited her work at the FIGGE Art Museum in Davenport and the Blanden Art Museum in Iowa, and has an upcoming exhibit at the Freeport Art Museum in Illinois. At the age of twelve, her family immigrated to the U.S. and settled in the Midwest in a unique community based on practices such as meditation, yoga, and sustainable living. In 2002 she received her BA in fine art from the University of Iowa, and has continued her art education at Peralta College in California and in Scuola Internazionale di Grafica in Venice, Italy. Ananda has also studied textile design at Rajamangala College of Art in Thailand, and with master artisans in India and Indonesia. Kesler’s unconventional education, rooted in Eastern philosophy, spirituality and metaphysics, has led her to search for an intersection, a meeting point of form, beauty, and the mysteries of the esoteric and unknown. Her abstract paintings might remind one of feelings that haven’t coalesced into language, places long forgotten, of memories or dreams. Ananda currently lives and paints in Fairfield, Iowa.