Kris Kuksi

Kris Kuksi is one of the most interesting artists i have ever come across in my life. Kris spent his youth in rural seclusion and isolation along with a blue-collar, working mother, two much-older brothers and an absent father. Open country, sparse trees, and alcoholic stepfather, perhaps paved the way for an individual saturated in imagination and introversion. The grotesque to him, as it seemed, was beautiful.

Reaching adulthood, his art blossomed and created a breakthrough of personal freedom from the negative environment experienced during his youth. He soon discovered his distaste for the typical American life and pop culture, feeling that he has always belonged to the ‘Old World’. Yet, Kris’ work is about a new wilderness, refined and elevated, visualized as a cultivation emerging from the corrupt and demoralized fall of modern-day society. A place where new beginnings, new wars, new philosophies, and new endings exist. In personal reflection, he feels that in the world today much of mankind is oftentimes frivolous and fragile, being driven primarily by greed and materialism. He hopes that his art exposes the fallacies of Man, unveiling a new level of awareness to the viewer.

The complexity of Kris' art usually comes into question during interviews or gallery inquiries. When asked about his art, Kris' responds:

"The overall layout is always planned ahead of time, but the small intricate things are improvised as I go. The ideas mostly are there before I begin but sometimes the subject comes together after a lot of work has already taken place. In the sculptures, there are certain rules. There has to be an axis in which all things follow, meaning if there are organic items (the objects representative of living things), they follow their own free form axis. Meaning they can be titled or reclining. But any structural effects such as building or trusses must be parallel and level. A good example of this is "The Decision", the figure follows it's own free form, reclining in a half circular fashion. But the objects seen in the torso area are all upright and level. Any smaller organic figures are also free of this axis."

His works definitely share his thoughts on psychological issues, religious ideology, and aesthetics. He never strays from the honesty within himself though he has had to shed many masks in order to do so. He finds the materialistic world of popular culture as the food for self-indulgence, self-escapism, and shallow-heartedness. Kuksi is a true artist, obsessed with exposing the illusions we created as a result of fear in our minds and greed in our hearts and eyes. Looking deep into his art, we can find lessons structured to guide our culture back to individualism and sanity... the irony of Kris Kuksi. I find the works of Kris Kuksi to be both mimetic and emotionalist art.

I also found an interesting quote on Darkroastedblend.com tying Kuksi to Philip K. Dick.

"Art of Kris Kuksi falls in that category: wildly unpredictable and rich creations, ominous in their very amount of detail, often 'unspeakable' in a very Lovecraft-ian way, pregnant with the idea that perhaps the world is more twisted than most artists care to admit. Something that Philip K. Dick might have conjured in his worst moments of battling the 'demons of the mind', or Medieval Architects would aspire to, if they were given more creative freedom." -Dark Roasted Blend.com

My question to you

Does this art bother you? Or does it touch you on a different level of emotion?


Works Cited
"The Art of the Grotesque." Dark Roasted Blend. Web. 09 Dec. 2009. .
"Kris Kuksi - Sculpture, Drawings, Paintings -." BeinArt Surreal Art Collective. Web. 09 Dec. 2009. .
"Kris Kuksi : Sculpture." Kris Kuksi : Home. Web. 09 Dec. 2009. .