Fred Kahler

Biography

Fred Kahler was born in Washington, DC on July 26, 1942, outside the confines of marriage. He was adopted immediately after birth into the Kahler family and raised in Arlington, Virginia. In school young Fred enjoyed painting and playing music. His gifted ear would later lead him to the acoustic upright bass and playing in progressive jazz bands in DC night clubs. After high school, Fred volunteered to serve in the US Army. His natural artistic abilities found favor with the chaplains and kept him working stateside and away from Viet Nam. In 1969 Fred met and married his life partner, Mary. After receiving an honorable discharge from the Army, he worked as a draftsman/illustrator and musician. Fred began to read books about man's quest for wholeness, oneness, as well as books on mythology, from the ancient through the contemporary. While reading the Ram Dass book 'Be Here Now', Fred began meditation with the use of mantras. The father of a friend, an astrologer and psychic, told Fred that in six years he would be drawing with pen & ink. Fred forgot about that prediction, he didn't like pen and ink because, "you can't make any mistakes". Six years later he picked up a quill pen and started drawing. Fred began to incorporate his use of mantras and his fascination with mythology and storytelling. This technique lead to the creation of a unique and intricate style, with intertwining detail. Fred was held captive by his new found passion for the next 30 years. Firmly believing his work contained a healing message for mankind, Fred hit the road with the craft show circuit. Even with huge crowds visiting his tent, Fred could not get enough financial support to continue touring. In the late 80's he exhibited in DC area galleries. Today, having rejected the gallery system, Fred's work is displayed only in museums, private collections, and select shows.

The Process
Fred creates with a quill pen and ink on drawing board without the use of magnification. In his years of meditation practice, Fred has developed a personal mantra technique, which clears any preconceptions, and invokes the vision and the nature of the work itself. Within this process, each work is revealed over a period months, sometimes years. It is the spirit of the art itself that determines the work.

Critical Appraisals

“Fred Kahler is a brilliant, original, and altogether compelling new voice in the art world, with my highest recommendation.”

Ken Wilber, 'A Brief History of Everything'

“Through the visionary frame of Fred Kahler’s work, we bear witness to the universal forms that are our collective-soul. It is here we re-discover the micro and macro cosmic-realms side by side. It is here we find ancient systems of consciousness-patterns, mandalas of the mystic landscape, shadows of motion and energy, fragments of the timeless. Layers of ancestral symbolism reveal the forms and process of the tension of history. The sacred-geometry of archetypes reveal the harmony and rhythm of spirit. This is the language of the elements, the architecture of myth.”

Samana Mitch-Ites, artist/writer/musician

"It (Fred's work) seems to reproduce, authentically, the interior state of his soul... the thousand and one images and voices that flow through the mind at any given moment... a true reflection of the kaleidoscopic inner universe."

"I'd love to sink and swim in this imagery..."

"His work is definitely 'outsider', 'raw' or 'l'art brut' - even if the man himself may be fairly lucid rather than insane. It has all the markings of this type of art (Lesage, Wolfli) while being unique and authentic onto itself."

Laurence Caruana, artist/writer/lecturer