A fine art gallery of the Blackwell St. Center for the Arts

Chris Kappmeier Bio

(201) 460-1599
Email: chriskappmeier@yahoo.com

Artist Statement:
Art is the most important thing in my life. I love the feel of the brush to canvas, pencil to paper, the smell of the paints and linseed oil. I use all mediums, including crayons, markers, watercolors, pens, pastels and collages.
All of my landscapes are done in “open air”. I don’t think you can paint a cold winter scene or hot summer day without being in it. I like the smell of the snow, grass or rain and I paint it. My art is about the feeling of the moment and not done from pictures, in this way I am part of all of my paintings.
I love to create something from nothing, to take a blank canvas or a piece of paper and bring the feeling of the moment to others. In the end, the artwork speaks for itself.

Press Release:
The majestic solitude of flora, foliage, and nature's expanses dominate the work of Chris Kappmeier. A vigorous naturalist, his paintings burst with tiny expressionistic specs and dashes of paint that build to gloriously capture natural vistas in all their splendor. The paintings call to mind the work of post-impressionists such as Van Gogh and Monet, who were themselves obsessed with visions of nature and its vibrant colors, attempting to display the spiritually uplifting semi-abstraction all over a canvas pictorial surface. Having studied figure drawing with Peter Schneck, and apprenticed in Syracusa, Italy, Kappmeier intones, "Art is the most important thing in my life. I love the feel of the brush to canvas, pencil to paper, the smell of the paints and linseed oil. All of my landscapes are done in open air. I don't think you can paint a cold winter scene or hot summer day without being in it. I like the smell of the snow, grass or rain and I paint it. My art is about the feeling of the moment and not done from pictures, in this way I am part of all my paintings." His paintings mirror the natural wonders he intones with spiritual elegance

EDUCATION:
1993 Figure Drawing - Peter Scheck - Paramus, NJ 1993 NORTHERN NEW JERSEY CENTER FOR THE ARTS Stone and Wood Sculpture - Leonard Agronski New Milford, N.J.
1991 APPRENTICESHIP - Studied under professor James McGinley Syracusa, Italy
1988-1991 NEWARK SCHOOL OF FINE AND INDUSTRIA ARTS Post Graduate Classes
1985-1988 NEWARK SCHOOL OF FINE AND INDUSTRIAL ARTS Associates Degree in Fine Arts

GALLERIES & EXHIBITIONS:
2007 EZAIR GALLERY 905 Madison Avenue New York, N.Y.
2006 APRIL ARTS A benefit for the arts council of the Morris Area
HOBOKEN HISTORICAL MUSEUM 1301 Hudson Street Hoboken, N.J.
AGORA GALLERY 530 W. 25th Street New York, N.Y.
2005 ARTS FOR THE CENTER OF NORTHERN NEW JERSEY
FOCUS - New Jersey
Marcella Geltman Gallery
250 Center Street New Milford, N.J.
MCAA STUDIO 715 Main Street Boonton, N.J.
2004 FIRST IMPRESSIONS
The Atrium Gallery, Bergen County Y, a J.C.C. Washington Township, N.J.