Kesselgruber saw life as a permanent conflict with the world as it presents itself to us, and painting as an important means of expression in which to process and share experiences. She described the intention behind her use of shapes as follows: “Just like thoughts and ideas remain unclear and hazy if not put into words or embedded in the structure of a sentence, so too does painting need a clear language of shapes. We live in a solid and conceptual world, and the deeply sensual impressions left by nature itself, by objects, and above all by the human body are what drives me to find a suitable new reality for them. That’s how I find my themes, my subjects, WHAT I am going to portray, or else it imposes itself upon me; but it is the HOW, the actual shaping of it, that becomes the true subject.”

Kesselgruber describes her feeling when faced with a blank canvas as a state of expectant tension. She wrestles with her work to create clear shapes that aim to bring out what is essential and eliminate all accoutrements. At the same time, a dialogue evolves between shape and colour, with the tension between different colours demanding a tight structure that can capture and bring them together harmoniously.

This field of tension often produces a dynamic in which Kesselgruber feels forced to take a step back and “bow to the dictate of the picture”, as she puts it. Nor does she paint the world around her from the basis of how she perceives it directly, but instead allows her personal ideas about spaces and figures to take shape on the canvas. Through specific shapes, colours and stylistic devices, her subjects take on a new significance and can be viewed from a different perspective.

From a young age, Ilse Kesselgruber engaged deeply with the powerful works of Pablo Picasso, something that has taken on a particular significance when it comes to her own style. It is the starting point for her own efforts as an artist: to develop further the spatial perception of Cubism and to transport intensity and sensuality through her paintings. Kesselgruber also likes to quote Picasso on understanding works of art: “Everyone wants to understand art. Why not try to understand the song of a bird? Why does one love the night, flowers, everything around one, without trying to understand them? … If only they would realize above all that an artist works of necessity, that he himself is only a trifling bit of the world, and that no more importance should be attached to him than to plenty of other things which please us in the world, though we can’t explain them.” (from Picasso: Collected Writings)