Vessels

- is a self-taught painter living and working in Northwest Ohio. Mockensturm has a background in electronics engineering, has hitch-hiked across America, plays the piano and guitar, and his favorite color is red. He has been married for over 35 years, and they live with their 4 year old boxer, Mickey.

With regards to his latest exhibit, Mockensturm states - “The prop shelf of a still life painter is littered with vessels. Cups, bowls, vases and jugs. These objects possess both a complete emptiness and the capacity to carry and share. Decorative or plain, a vessel is often made for (and by) a human hand.

They do also appear in nature. The blood vessel, your bladder, fruits and flowers that contain

and distribute their own future. I’m sure there’s a poem or a song somewhere about a human vessel. The Holy Grail? It’s a vessel.

Honestly, I don’t consider a lot of this when I set up shiny stuff on a shelf. The shapes do get

quite seductive under the light. But mostly I want these everyday objects to look like something you’d want to hold and feel. To carry. To share.”