DECEMBER 29 • 2022 | 43

him not to take any lessons and to try to
develop his skills and creative vision on
his own.
Day-by-day outside of work, Schlussel
tried his hand at drawing. Eventually,
he transitioned to painting. “I started to
paint with a feel, and I was able to become
more expressive,” he explains. “I feel like
I’ve blended both the discipline of being a
lawyer with the freedom to explore how I
want to express myself on canvas.”

FINDING ENRICHMENT IN
CREATIVITY
Now, Schlussel, who lives in Southfield
at the same house he’s called home for
more than 40 years, refers to painting as
an enriching activity rather than a hobby.
Looking at his artwork over the past
decades, he can see through his art how
his life has evolved.
“I can see paintings when I was feeling

melancholy, paintings when I was feel-
ing very ambivalent,” he describes. “
And
paintings that are rigorously disinclined
when I was feeling very much in my
head.”
There are the more “perfect” pieces, he
says, with precise taping, measuring and
coloring, and the “not-so-perfect” pieces
that are free-flowing and what Schlussel
calls “an expression of the inner emotion-
al self rather than the inner cerebral self.”
Over the years, Schlussel has sold his
artwork at various art shows. He uses
different textures, shapes and colors to
paint abstractly, finding inspiration in
the world around him. A recent artwork
that he named “First Tablets” was even
inspired by Judaism.
“I was inspired by the Torah portion
of the giving of the 10 Commandments,”
Schlussel explains. “It’s a depiction of the
first tablets with the beginning of the

words of each of the 10 commandments,
and then there’s fire around it. It’s the tab-
lets Moses destroyed.”
To create powerful pieces like this,
Schlussel says, is a “spiritual experience.”
“I find it very gratifying and very
enriching,” he explains of painting,
describing his personal style as abstract
expressionism. “You create something
that really energizes you.”
While Schlussel confesses his creativity
has sometimes come in spurts and he’ll
go periods without painting, the attorney,
healthcare CEO and Jewish community
leader is serious about his artwork and is
committed to getting it further into the
world.
“I just finished three pieces that are
a combination of all the styles that I
began to develop over the last 25 years,”
Schlussel says. “That’s why I’ve decided
it’s time to really push forward.”

Samples of Schlussel’s paintings