Joel Mesler, Kosher

ARTWALK NYJoel MeslerKosher, 2026Acrylic paint10.5 in diameter1/1Hand signed on the versoOpening Bid: $2,000Value: PricelessCourtesy of Joel MeslerThe sale of the plate goes to benefit the Coalition for the Homeless.This auction has a buyer's fee of 9%, which is added onto the sale of each lot.BioJoel Mesler’s (b. 1974, Los Angeles) paintings shed light on universal themes by filtering them through autobiography, humor, self-deprecation, and surprising compositional juxtapositions. Childhood memories fuel meditations on design and popular iconography, not to mention the liquid, fluid, and mutable nature of the painting process. In recent years, Mesler has explored the power of acceptance, allowing emotions—as well as the cultural forms in which they become constellated—to exist at the center of his project. Mesler has also broadened his visual range, incorporating new motifs in the patterned backgrounds that provide the foundation for each composition and experimenting with increasingly elaborate ways of rendering typography. Their wry surrealism and emphasis on words and phrases place Mesler’s paintings in dialogue with the work of artists like Ed Ruscha and Christopher Wool, who engage with language and the relationship between text and image. But Mesler’s concerns are very much his own, and however lighthearted their surfaces read upon first glance, his paintings pose serious questions: How is a self constituted when it is not consistent from moment to moment? Where does pain end and healing begin?Joel Mesler has been the subject of solo exhibitions at A Hug from the Art World, New York (2025), Paradise City, Korea (2025), Guild Hall, East Hampton (2025), Nassima Landau Art Foundation, Tel Aviv (2025), Rockefeller Center, New York (2024), Chateau La Coste, France (2024), Lévy Gorvy Dayan, New York (2024), the Long Museum West Bund, Shanghai (2023), David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles (2023), Lévy Gorvy, Hong Kong (2021), Harper’s Books, East Hampton, New York (2020), and Simon Lee, London (2018). Mesler lives and works in East Hampton, New York.ABOUT THE COALITION FOR THE HOMELESSThe Coalition for the Homeless is the nation’s oldest advocacy and direct service organization helping individuals and families experiencing homelessness. We believe that affordable housing, sufficient food, and the chance to work for a living wage are fundamental rights in a civilized society. Since our inception in 1981, the Coalition has worked through litigation, public education, and direct services to ensure that these goals are realized, and in that time, we have given more than one million homeless New Yorkers a way off the streets.More people are homeless in NYC now than at any time since the Great Depression. The Coalition for the Homeless is there to provide lifesaving relief to thousands of homeless and low-income New Yorkers each and every day -- and its work is more important now than ever before. The challenges facing homeless and at-risk New Yorkers have been exacerbated these past few years as the city grapples with the ongoing housing, economic, and public health crises. But the Coalition remains on the frontlines every day, meeting homeless New Yorkers where they are and fighting for the proven solutions that will bring an end to mass homelessness once and for all.