Fred Wessel

Four Lilies, 2024

Egg Tempera with Gold Leaf and Coral Cabochons

17 x 14 in (43.18 x 35.56 cm)

Framed Dimensions: 25 x 20.25 in

$9,500

Artist Bio

Black and white photograph of fine artist Fred Wessel raising a glass of wine in a toast. Wessel, with a thick beard and wearing a textured blazer over a dark shirt, gazes warmly toward the camera in a celebratory gesture. The soft lighting and vintage feel of the image lend a timeless, inviting quality, capturing a moment of camaraderie and appreciation.

A two week trip that I took to Italy in 1984, had a profound and prolonged influence on my work. At that time I was involved in making a series of aquarium images. I went to Italy to view the art of the Renaissance, for it is my belief that all visual artists, especially realists, should experience and study this work firsthand. I could not have predicted the dramatic impact, both direct and indirect, that this journey of discovery would have on my ensuing work. I believe that in our search for novelty in post-modernist art making, we often lose touch with certain basics: beauty, grace, harmony and visual poetry are nowadays rarely considered important criteria in evaluating contemporary works of art.

 

Since the Bauhaus, the term ‘precious’ has had a negative connotation in art schools. It was a term used derisively in the 1960’s to describe work that did not adhere to the fashionably pared down kernels of conceptualism or minimalism.

 

But after seeing the beauty, sensitivity, harmony—the ‘preciousness’—of Italian Renaissance painting—especially the early Renaissance work of artists such as Fra Angelico, Duccio and Simone Martini—I realize that, as artists, we may have abandoned too much. The ever–changing inner light that radiates from gold leaf used judiciously on the surface of a painting, and the use of pockets of rich, intense colors that illuminate the picture’s surface impressed me deeply. It was ‘preciousness’ elevated to grand heights: semi–precious gems such as lapis lazuli, malachite, azurite, etc., were ground up, mixed with egg yolk and applied as paint pigments, producing dazzling, breathtaking colors! The surface of these colors forms a texture that sparkles and reflects light much like gold does, but in ways that are much more subtle than gold.

 

I look to the early Renaissance as a source of inspiration that I can use along with contemporary content and image making. I look to the Renaissance as the artists of that time looked back to early Greek and Roman art—not as a reactionary but as one who rediscovers and reapplies important but forgotten visual stimuli.

Related Works

Brugmansia Datura (Big Pink) by Fred Wessel

Fred Wessel

Brugmansia Datura (Big Pink), 2024

Egg Tempera with Gold Leaf and Coral Cabochons

14 x 12 in

$9,500

Striped Tulip by Fred Wessel

Fred Wessel

Striped Tulip, 2024

Tempera with gold leaf and Garnet Cabochons

9 x 6 in

$6,000

Red Trillium by Fred Wessel

Fred Wessel

Red Trillium, 2024

23K gold leaf with Garnet Cabochons

3.50 x 3.50 in

$4,600

The Constellation Delphinus by Fred Wessel

Fred Wessel

The Constellation Delphinus, 2020

Egg tempera with gold and silver leaf

24 x 18 in

$18,000

Our Yellow Orchid by Fred Wessel

Fred Wessel

Our Yellow Orchid, 2020

Tempera with Gold Leaf & Tiger’s Eye

7.50 x 9.50 in

$4,000

Pink Rose Icon by Fred Wessel

Fred Wessel

Pink Rose Icon, 2020

Tempera w/Gold Leaf & Garnets

5 x 5 in

$3,400

Angel's Trumpet Icon by Fred Wessel

Fred Wessel

Angel's Trumpet Icon, 2020

Tempera with Gold Leaf

5.50 x 5.75 in

$2,800

Orange Lily-Purple Vase by Fred Wessel

Fred Wessel

Orange Lily-Purple Vase, 2022

Tempera with Gold Leaf and Amethyst

19 x 13 in

$9,500

White Orchid by Fred Wessel

Fred Wessel

White Orchid, 2022

Tempera with Gold Leaf & Garnets

7.50 x 9.50 in

$4,000

West Hartford Canna by Fred Wessel

Fred Wessel

West Hartford Canna, 2022

Tempera w/Gold Leaf and Malachite

15 x 13 in

$9,500

Little Iris Icon by Fred Wessel

Fred Wessel

Little Iris Icon, 2022

Tempera w/23K Gold leaf and dyed coral

6 x 6 in

$3,200

Dahlia Icon by Fred Wessel

Fred Wessel

Dahlia Icon, 2022

Tempera with Gold Leaf & Coral

7.50 x 7.50 in

$3,800

Autumn Zinnia by Fred Wessel

Fred Wessel

Autumn Zinnia, 2023

Tempera w/Gold Leaf & Malachite

7.50 x 7.50 in

$3,800

Fritillaria Imperialis by Fred Wessel

Fred Wessel

Fritillaria Imperialis, 2023

Tempera w/Gold Leaf & Malachite

14 x 12 in

$9,500

Dogwood Blossom by Fred Wessel

Fred Wessel

Dogwood Blossom, 2024

Tempera with Gold Leaf

9 x 9.50 in

$4,800

Jack-in the-Pulpit by Fred Wessel

Fred Wessel

Jack-in the-Pulpit, 2024

Tempera with Gold Leaf & Malachite

9 x 9.50 in

$4,800

Jenni's Lily by Fred Wessel

Fred Wessel

Jenni's Lily, 2021

Tempera with Gold Leaf & Lapis Lazuli

7.50 x 7.50 in

$3,800

The Constellation Cancer by Fred Wessel

Fred Wessel

The Constellation Cancer, 2015

Tempera w/Gold & Silver Leaf

24 x 18 in

$18,000

The Constellation Sagittarius by Fred Wessel

Fred Wessel

The Constellation Sagittarius, 2018

Tempera w/Gold & Silver Leaf

24 x 18 in

$18,000

The Constellation Crater by Fred Wessel

Fred Wessel

The Constellation Crater, 2019

Tempera w/Gold & Silver Leaf

24 x 18 in

$18,000

Sagittarius Study (Jeanne D'Arc) by Fred Wessel

Fred Wessel

Sagittarius Study (Jeanne D'Arc), 2018

Tempera w/Gold Leaf

17 x 12 in

$8,000

Modesty by Fred Wessel

Fred Wessel

Modesty, 2016

Tempera w/Gold & Silver Leaf

21.50 x 14 in

$11,000

Giana (Fibonacci Revisited) by Fred Wessel

Fred Wessel

Giana (Fibonacci Revisited), 2019

Tempera w/Gold Leaf

20 x 16 in

$9,000

Iris (Revisited) by Fred Wessel

Fred Wessel

Iris (Revisited), 2014

Tempera w/Gold Leaf

18 x 12 in

$8,000

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1261 Delaware St
Suite 1
Denver, Colorado 80204
US

HOURS

TUE - SAT: 12 PM - 4 PM
AND BY APPOINTMENT
 

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