John Kuehl’s images examine how we process and rediscover hidden, lost memories that shape and mold our identity. His artwork explores the mysteries that lie within our subconscious and how we remember, translate and connect them all together later in life. Kuehl's earlier work investigates the mystery, beauty and constant transformation of the landscape by humans and by its own design--examining the intersections between humans and the natural world.
Smoke, Flue and Residue (2019), Kuehl investigates moments that change the course and path of ones life. As a child, Kuehl almost died in a tragic house fire. The images are a reexamination and exploration into memory and the subconscious of this event and what proceeded shortly there after. How do these moments and life events shape who we are? He incorporates photography and appropriated images through the use of heat sensitive thermal paper and post-image manipulation.
In Then I Woke (2019), Kuehl's photographs meditate on déjà vu, memory and past experiences of the town he grew up. He explores displaced visual memories and experiences that may or may have not been unconsciously constructed.
Kuehl's earlier work, Proximity (2005), examines his family's use of video-chatting to stay close with one another while living in separate cities. The images became the only visual document of his family's existence. The photographs speak to contemporary societies usage of mobile, video-conferencing and social media technologies to stay close to one another.
In Views from a Bridge (2004-07), he uses the platform of a bridge to photograph the ever-changing transformation of Milwaukee's Menomonee Valley. The birds-eye view creates a unique perspective to document this fascinating spectacle below. The photographs bear witness to the effect of demolition on manmade forms and the landscape, creating an order and disorder, displaying stability and evanescence within their environment.
Kuehl has exhibited in Milwaukee and his work is apart of the Milwaukee Art Museum's permanent photography collection. John earned a BFA from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and received a MFA Photography Fellowship to study at the San Francisco Art Institute.