Formally, Kirschenman’s work has been inspired by the landscape painters of the nineteenth century, the abstract expressionists of the twentieth century and also the expressionist landscape painters of the post-modernism. The paintings occupy a median between modernity and tradition. Kirschenman often relies on the sparest of details and pictorial elements to present the essential qualities of landscape and sky.

Some of the paintings depict wild or violent atmospheric events which at times verge on the surreal. Others present the viewer with a more transcendent space where memory and emotion rise to the surface. Often the details are obscured or absent, reflecting the ethereal and transitory qualities of memory.

By suggesting rather than defining the essential elements of landscape in his work Kirschenman hopes to stimulate dialogue between the viewer and the work. If the paintings are effective then it follows that they will be engaging visually, emotionally and perhaps even spiritually.

Dale Kirschenman graduated from the Alberta College of Art and Design 1998, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting with Distinction.