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 went on to receive his MFA in Painting from SCAD (Savannah, GA, 2010). He has lived in Brooklyn, NY; Madison, TN; and in 2025, he moved back to his hometown of Ashland, KY.

His work has been featured in group exhibitions at Tyger Tyger Gallery (Asheville, NC), Red Arrow Gallery (Nashville, TN), Elephant Gallery (Nashville, TN), Julia Martin Gallery (Nashville, TN), Ground Floor Contemporary (Birmingham, AL), Lowe Mill (Huntsville, AL), Gallery 85 (Chelsea, NY), The Parthenon (Nashville, TN), CultureLab LIC (Queens, NY), Gadsden Museum of Art (Gadsden, AL), Piano Craft Gallery (Boston, MA), New York Hall of Science & SciArts Initiative (Queens, NY), Prince Street Gallery (New York, NY), Flatwork Contemporary (online). He’s been featured in I Like Your Work Podcast, ArtMaze Mag, Create Magazine, and the NYC Crit Club Winter Session 2023. In 2022 he was accepted to the White Columns Curated Online Artist Registry (New York, NY). His work is included in the permanent collections of The Savannah College of Art and Design (Atlanta and Lacoste), Vanderbilt University Medical Center Community Arts Initiative, and Soho House Nashville. He has attended artist residencies at Vermont Studio Center (Johnson, VT), Art Residency Chattanooga (Chattanooga, TN), Azule (Hot Springs, NC), Jx Farms (Cleveland, MS), Mudhouse (Crete, Greece) ON::View at ARTS Southeast (Savannah, GA). He has had solo shows at Wheelhouse Arts (Louisville, KY), Oz Arts (Nashville, TN), The Red Arrow Gallery (Nashville, TN), and The Ellis Gallery at ARTS Southeast (Savannah, GA).

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).