The Drawing Center is pleased to present the first exhibition devoted to the drawing-based work of renowned mixed-media sculptor Jon Kessler in the Drawing Room from September 14 through October 25, 2007. Best-known for large-scale kinetic sculptures and installations, Kessler has been exploring the mass media’s infatuation with disaster, war, sex, and celebrity through politically charged work since the 1980s. In his new series of drawings, Kessler creates portraits by taking found representations culled from the worlds of fashion, celebrity culture, and contemporary politics and reconfiguring them to reflect on the spectacle of American power and the instant access to images of objectification and violence. Based on the idea of “the portrait as a metaphor for captivity,” Kessler’s new body of work confronts the convergence of advertising, propaganda, surveillance, and technology that threatens to undermine democratic politics. This exhibition is curated by João Ribas, curator, The Drawing Center.