About the author
Visual Poet and Author of seventeen books, RICHARD KEHL, former Art Professor at the University of Washington for 36 years, urges everyone to view the fabric of life with an "innocent eye", free of the labels and value judgments imposed from the outside. His artworks coined 'Kehlages', are more like visual poetry with images existing side-by-side without the overlap that you usually find in collage. The true qualities of elegance and originality visible in Richard's 'Kehlages' are not designed to relate messages or personal stories, but rather to ignite the imagination and evoke mystery. Richard Kehl was born in the small farming town of Mexico, Missouri in 1936. Graduating from the Kansas City Art Institute with a B.F.A. and M.F.A., he developed a reputation as an Abstract Expressionist Painter. To support his career in other media, he became a teacher, collaborating with the famous designer/educator, Norman Laliberte on an experimental curriculum at the Rhode Island School of Design. He also worked with Laliberte in a design studio in New York, designing the 40 foot mural for the Vatican Pavilion at the 1964 New York World's Fair, a 12 sided photo room for the National Film Board of Canada, and a 90 foot mural for Pepsi Cola on Park Avenue. Richard Kehl's art has been shown in over seventy galleries in New York, Paris, Tokyo, Shanghai, Washington DC, and Seattle. Recently a 70th Birthday Celebration and Exhibition honoring Mr. Kehl's life and work was held at the Seattle Asian Art Museum. He has been reproduced in the NEW YORK TIMES, NEWSWEEK, ARTS, PRINT, GRAPHIS, and IDEA. The Japanese magazine CREATION selected him as one of the 100 most interesting artists of the 20th century. His corporate clients include Microsoft, Starbucks, Cannes Film Festival, Hewlett Packard, Safeco, Seattle Symphony, Seattle Opera, and Pacific Northwest Ballet. Kehl has published seventeen books: 100 WAYS TO HAVE FUN WITH AN ALLIGATOR, HOW TO MAKE A ZERO BACKWARDS, SILVER DEPARTURES, THE LOVERS, THE FEMININE, THE MASCULINE, FURTHER DEPARTURES, BREATHING TOGETHER, THE HEART SHOP, THE FLOWER SHOP, BREATHING ON YOUR OWN, ONLY YOU, INVISIBLE ART, PUT ON A HAPPY FACE, LOVE LETTERS FROM THE UNIVERSE, IT TAKES A LONG TIME TO BECOME YOUNG and now KEHL, a brief retrospective of Richard's life work. To view his present work visit www.richardkehl.com
