The Bascom: A Center for the Visual Arts will open a new exhibition by photography resident Dean Kessmann on Saturday, April 18, in the Joel Gallery. A free public artist talk is scheduled for 3 p.m. Kessmann, a professor of photography at George Washington University’s Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, spent his spring 2026 sabbatical in residence at The Bascom. It is his first formal artist residency in nearly two decades.
The exhibition, “Realism Succumbing to Abstraction, or Is It the Other Way Around?” is part of an ongoing project shaped by observation and attention to the everyday landscape. Working with a Hasselblad X1D II medium format digital camera during walks in and around Washington, D.C., Kessmann finds images in often-overlooked details of familiar surroundings, such as sidewalks, signage, concrete and brick surfaces, and graffiti. The resulting photographs hover between representation and abstraction. Some serve as direct records of the world, while others dissolve into ambiguity, resisting easy description. The prints are made on fine art archival papers, and a subset of the work is mounted directly onto oriented strand board, then sealed and varnished, creating a layered physical object that echoes the constructed surfaces Kessmann photographs.
In his artist statement, Kessmann said his goal is to make photographs that occupy visual and conceptual “in-between spaces”—images capable of being both/and rather than either/or. Inspired in part by writers such as Abraham Verghese, who said, “To see the miraculous in the ordinary is a more precious gift than prophecy,” Kessmann approaches his practice as an act of paying attention, placing a rectangle around a scene that gives him pause in hopes the resulting photograph will do the same for a viewer. Kessmann’s work is held in the collections of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Walker Art Center, The Phillips Collection and the Museum of Contemporary Photography, among others. His work has been reviewed in Artforum, The Washington Post, Art Papers and The Boston Globe.
“The Bascom has always believed in supporting living artists, not only by presenting their work but also by giving them the time and resources to pursue it. A residency like Dean’s is one of the most direct ways we can do that, and we’re glad this exhibition gives our community the chance to experience the results,” said Billy Love, executive director of The Bascom.
The April 18 artist talk is free and open to the public. Kessmann will discuss his photographic practice, the making of this body of work, and his experience in residence at The Bascom. A summer reception is set for Thursday, June 11, at 5 p.m.
For more information about the exhibition and upcoming programs, visit thebascom.org or call 828-526-4949.
- Staff Reports