Bob Kessel signing his print based on Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel art

•

“The greatest danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark.”

- MICHELANGELO

Bob Kessel’s art series “MICHELANGELO” features pictures based on the works of the Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo Buonarroti. These pictures are available as signed and numbered limited edition original fine art prints. Contact Bob Kessel for pricing and availability.

Sistine Chapel (Italian: Cappella Sistina) is the best-known chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope in Vatican City. It is famous for its architecture, evocative of Solomon’s Temple of the Old Testament, and its decoration which has been frescoed throughout by the greatest Renaissance artists including Michelangelo, Raphael, Bernini, and Sandro Botticelli. Under the patronage of Pope Julius II, Michelangelo painted 12,000 square feet of the chapel ceiling between 1508 and 1512. He resented the commission, and believed his work only served the Pope’s need for grandeur. However, today the ceiling, and especially The Last Judgement, are widely believed to be Michelangelo’s crowning achievements in painting.

•

IGNUDI by Bob Kessel
after Michelangelo from the Sistine Chapel

•

TEMPTATION by Bob Kessel
after Michelangelo from the Sistine Chapel

•

WRESTLERS by Bob Kessel
after Michelangelo from the Sistine Chapel

Wrestlers sketch by Michelangelo

WASHINGTON AND LINCOLN by Bob Kessel

Presidents Day or George Washington’s Birthday, is a United States federal holiday celebrated on the third Monday of February.

To celebrate, I am posting the print WASHINGTON AND LINCOLN and its variations from the Bob Kessel art series AMERICAN ICONS.

KAIDAN, or in english KWAIDAN

KAIDAN are Japanese ghost stories. A genre of art that all Japanese artists have made.

Here is one by HOKUSAI-

_

Utagawa Kuniyoshi kaidan print

_

A great japanese movie perfect for halloween is “KWAIDAN” by Kobayashi. I highly recommend it.

_

and here is a Bob Kessel kaidan print- What ever happened to ATOMU?

ASTRO BOY KAIDAN print by Bob Kessel based on Astroboy.

_

Bob Kessel has created a print combining ANIME ( Astroboy ) and KAIDAN (Japanese ghost story) a genre of Japanese wood block prints. This kind of chicanery is what you come to expect from Bob Kessel, like his picture combining HELLO KITTY with EDVARD MUNCH’S “THE SCREAM”.
The print titled, “ASTRO BOY KAIDAN” is available as a signed and numbered limited edition print. Contact Bob Kessel for pricing and availability.

_

Close up from ASTRO BOY KAIDAN print. Some may recognize Doctor Elefun.

_

Astro Boy (鉄腕アトム Tetsuwan Atomu, lit. “Mighty Atom”) is a Japanese manga series and television program first broadcast in Japan from 1963 to 1966. The story follows the adventures of a fictional robot named Astro Boy and a selection of other characters along the way.

Astro Boy is the first Japanese television series that embodied the aesthetic that later became known as anime. It originated as a manga comic series started in 1951 by Osamu Tezuka, who is known as the “god of manga”. For a time Astro Boy enjoyed a level of popularity in Japan equivalent to Disney’s Mickey Mouse.