Her artwork centers around the challenging subject matter of water, highlighting fascinating angles and lines that result in truly captivating paintings with a unique perspective and dazzing color palette. When asked about her work Messmer said, “I use water as a lens to see another perspective, a distorted reality or talk about the shifting perception of self and others that happens on a daily basis because of our physical and mental environments.”
Messmer a native Texan, was formally trained in the arts receiving her Bachelors of Fine Arts in Painting and Drawing from University of North Texas. Upon completing her degree she moved to Arizona to further pursue her art where she has maintained and shared a studio and gallery space for the last fourteen years. The Lodge Art Studio is an integral part of the grand avenue community, located in the heart of the Grand Avenue Arts district at 1231 Grand Avenue, Phoenix and is open to the public every First Friday. She is also a former member of the Eye Lounge Artist Collective, which she felt helped to connect her to fellow artists and the arts community while providing a great environment for her to push her art to the next level.
Messmer recently received the prestigious Contemporary Forum Award and Artist Grant in late 2015 with recipients exhibiting their work in the Lyon Gallery at the Phoenix Art Museum in 2016. She has exhibited her artwork at a variety of galleries across the valley including Eye Lounge Gallery, Frontal Lobe Gallery, Shemer Art Center and Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum, just to name few. Her artwork has also been featured in numerous publications both online and in print including Phoenix New Times, Arizona Republic, Java Magazine and many more.
Next up for Messmer Currently is a joint exhibition along Bill Dambrova titled The Naturalness of Strange Things on display in Shade gallery at the monOrchid, highlighting their love of “strange things”, such as parasites, exotic ocean creatures, abnormalities in biological forms, mutations, altered states of consciousness, etc.” This enthralling exhibition will open to the public First Friday, April 1st, 2016 from 6-10pm, giving you a perfect opportunity to experience Messmer’s artwork first hand and will be on display until April 24th, 2016.
Still want to learn more about talented artist Abbey Messmer then visit her online at abbeymessmer.com and be sure to follow her work on instagram at @abbeymessmer. *All images are courtesy and copyright of the artist Abbey Messmer and Nicole Royse.
