Ken Konchel... Graphically Beautiful

When selling art, if the patron is “on the fence” about the purchase, I’ll suggest that they go home. I tell them that if they’re still thinking about the piece the next day—or a week later—then they probably need to make the purchase. I’m one of those people who purchase work because it moves me… not really knowing where it will eventually live.

A few years back, I produced an exhibition for photographer, Ken Konchel at Gallery 350 of The Illinois Institute of Art-Chicago. Konchel’s work was—and continues to be—a beautiful presentation of graphic black and white photographic abstraction created from architecture. From Konchel’s web site:

"My aim is to photograph buildings in arresting ways, creating compositions that do not immediately reveal themselves as architecture. Buildings present rich opportunities for me to imaginatively explore the angle, the cube, the curve, the triangle, and the rectangle. By examining these forms individually or by grouping them into unconventional configurations, I aspire to challenge and captivate people by introducing them to architecture’s intriguing visual possibilities. I strive to take photographs that disclose their content in layers of meaning that more richly reward with repeated viewings."

Well the reason I bring this up is that I purchased one of the pieces from that exhibition… The piece, titled “Beam”, is dated 2003. The image is of the ceiling of Windhover Hall, a ninety-foot high glass-walled reception area at the Milwaukee Art Museum’s Quadracci Pavillion. The photograph has been leaning against the wall on my living room for the past few years. It’s a relatively large piece—framed to 30 x 36”— so I’ve been looking for the perfect placement… I found it. Today, I hung the work in our freshly painted office. The contrast of the steel blue walls and the forms created by the flanking window blinds—which obviously mimic the image—create the perfect environment for Konchel's tranquil composition.

You can find other work by Ken Konchel at: kenkonchelphoto.com. Check it out… his work is quite amazing.