John Paul Kesling (b. 1980, USA) was born and raised in Northeastern Kentucky in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. He received his BFA in Arts from Morehead State University (Morehead, KY, 2003) and spent a summer in Europe studying art history. In 2010, he received his MFA in Painting from The Savannah College of Art and Design (Savannah, GA). He spent the next six years in Brooklyn, NY immersed in the NYC art scene. In March of 2016, while attending a month long residency at The Vermont Studio Center he realized how integral time, space, and nature were to his studio practice and in 2016, relocated to Madison, TN, just outside of Nashville. He now lives and works in Ashland, KY.

His work has recently been featured in various group exhibitions at Ground Floor Contemporary (Birmingham, AL), The Parthenon (Nashville, TN), CultureLab LIC (Queens, NY), Piano Craft Gallery (Boston, MA), New York Hall of Science & SciArts Initiative (Queens, NY), Prince Street Gallery (New York, NY), Flatwork Contemporary (online), I Like Your Work Podcast (online and print), ArtMaze Mag (online and print), Create Magazine (online) and the NYC Crit Club Winter Session 2023 (curated by MEPAINTSME). In 2022 he was accepted to the White Columns Curated Online Artist Registry (New York, NY). He has work included in the permanent collections of The Savannah College of Art and Design, Vanderbilt University Medical Center Community Arts Initiative Program and Soho House Nashville. He has had recent solo shows at Wheelhouse Arts (Louisville, KY), Oz Arts (Nashville, TN) and The Red Arrow Gallery (Nashville, TN).

Kesling is a member of the artist collective at Ground Floor Contemporary (Birmingham, AL) and is represented by The Red Arrow Gallery (Nashville, TN) and Wheelhouse Art (Louisville, KY).