Messerschmidt’s ornate, organically shaped paintings on panel integrate sculptural elements – fabrics, fake pearls, twine, garland, candles – to form ethereal pseudo-altars. Using these mundane objects to build a visual vocabulary, Messerschmidt addresses the theatrics used by mystics/seers/fortune-tellers by incorporating the sort of ephemera linked to these so-called prophets. He simultaneously acknowledges this façade while winking at his own involvement in it. These overtly ornamental and symmetrical works take on an entrancing psychedelic effect, both engaging and disorienting the viewer. Messerschmidt provokes questions regarding why and how devotees of the divine become ensnared by hocus-pocus.

Also included in the exhibition is the artist’s latest installment of 10 x 10 inch drawings, collages, and oil paintings on paper. Stemming from his fascination with the mysticism of landscapes, the works incorporate topics ranging from occultism, auras, axis mundis, crop circles, and burning bushes.

Andy Messerschmidt received his M.F.A. from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and now lives and works in Ely, Minnesota near the boundary waters.  He has participated in exhibitions in Germany, Japan, Hawaii, New York, California, Minnesota and Pennsylvania.