beinArt International Surreal Art Collective - The ever-expanding online gallery of surrealist, psychedelic, esoteric, outsider, fantastic, lowbrow, erotic & visionary artists

Art News

Archive for May 14th, 2007

beinArt Interview with Kris Kuksi

May 14th, 2007 by Jon Beinart

Jon Beinart - "What inspires you to create art?"

Lust & Self Abuse by Kris Kuksi Kris Kuksi - "What inspires me to create art is finding those things in life that should be brought to our attention, like that of politics, war, famine, discrimination, or just unnoticed beauty and bringing them to life in art."

Jon Beinart - "When you create one of your paintings, drawings or sculptures do you plan to communicate a particular message from the outset or does one occur to you as you work intuitively? Also, do you plan your compositions before a beginning piece? I'm interested in hearing about your creative process in general."

Kris Kuksi - "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), 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."

Jon Beinart - "What is your favorite medium to work in and why? I am also curious to find out which medium has been best received by the public."

Kris Kuksi - "The sculptures for sure. They are a hit right now. And I enjoy doing them more than painting or drawing. Painting is a struggle for me which is good, we all need that. But intuitively I'm a builder and the sculptures satisfy that need."

Jon Beinart - "I have noticed you get a lot of feedback on DeviantArt and other web based communities. I have also noticed your work popping up all over the web, in Art Publications and group exhibitions. I have enjoyed watching the Kuksi craze spread like a disease ;) and I feel especially proud to own one of your original drawings. What kind of feedback have you received from from this recent explosion of successes? I am particularly interested to hear of any negative feedback you have received or controversy sparked by your works."

Kris Kuksi - "Oh, some of the political things I've done piss the conservatives off like I said before. But with that aside I've enjoyed the comments and there seems to be a consistent appreciation for the time spent in these works.

I'm very self-critical and never pat myself on the back, never. I accomplish things very well but I never spend too much time enjoying it. I have to do more, I think that it must be for a grand pinnacle somewhere that I will be at. Maybe it is only to inspire people to change things in this world. Money is nice and it helps to do the next big thing, but I do this out of selfless motives. I'm proud of the work but I know that I always have to continue making it and getting better. I'm in a prison so to speak, I am one who won't enjoy a nice married life with children. I won't enjoy a relaxing vacation in the Bahamas. I have to be getting this stuff out. I'd say I'm like the old cliché of walking the fine line of madness.

So it is very very nice to see the comments and praise and it helps to keep going through rough times.

So that is my rant."

Jon Beinart - Has politics always been a major theme in your work or has it grown since Bush came into power? I noticed your recent drawing of George bush (and must commend you on how striking and powerful the image is). I've also noticed that war has been a recurring theme in your sculptures. Are you very concerned about the future of the world? Is this something that keeps you up at night?"

The Great Liberator by Kuksi Kris Kuksi - "Yes, I've gotten a lot more political since Bush has been in office. I'm concerned about it because of what the rest of the world thinks about Americans. I guess I want to let people of other cultures that not all Americans follow Bush's foot steps so blindly. War is something I am always fascinated with, and it has been a part of human history from early man. I like to probe into this aspect of psychology, and the irrational motives we have that create it. Aggression is something that isn't exactly inborn in us, but learned. We teach our children to hate and have biases towards other humans of differing beliefs and religions. In turn, it is loyalty that drives one to fight a war.

So here is the future upon us, war is present more than ever. The climate is fragile and changing rapidly. What happens in say 50 years? Scary to think about."

Jon Beinart - "I noticed an artwork in your DeviantArt gallery titled 'the complete Zodiac' and wondered if you have an particular interest in astrology or the occult?"

Kris Kuksi - "I do to some degree.  I fit what a Pisces is though I have many of the qualities of Aqaurius as well, being my rising and moon sign.  I think there is something to it, though I have more interest in numerlogy.  That I have found is more precise.  That is probably the extent of my interest in the occult, not really into Satan worship either."

Jon Beinart - "On a much lighter note. Does humor play a big part in your art? I may be wrong, but I interpret some of your works as dark satire. Perhaps I am just sick ;)"

Kris Kuksi - "Yes, dark satire is a perfect way to describe it. I tend to have a dark sense of humor when it comes to life. So many things are dark in our times, it is no wonder so much art is reflecting this. In fact we tend to make fun of how awful things are. But humor is a great way to expose something without coming across as crass."

Jon Beinart - "So what happening next in the world of Kuksi? Do you have any upcoming shows? Please do tell."

Kris Kuksi - "I plan to do a book for next year, complete with my broad range of work but also an autobiographical publication. As for exhibits later this year, there are a few art fairs I hope to be involved in that are in Europe, as well as solo show at the Strychnin gallery in October in Berlin. I have a few ideas for large scale work, so those will most likely manifest in the coming months."

Kris Kuksi's Gallery

Kris Kuksi is one of 50 artists featured in out first art book: Metamorphosis.

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Posted in Artist Interviews, Drawings, Exhibitions, Paintings, Publications, Sculpture | 1 Comment »

From INSCAPE To Art of Imagination

May 14th, 2007 by Jon Beinart

The following article was written by Brigid Marlin. This is the first time it has been published online. Thank you Brigid.

Brigid Marlin’s Gallery"In 1960  a few young artists in England banded together to study techniques of painting, and to inspire each other. We called ourselves the INSCAPE  group, because we wanted to depict the inner landscapes of the mind. We met in Peter Holland’s studio in the attic, where we could pour gesso over everything and splash paint on top. Peter was an inventor as well as an artist and created robots that could serve us tea. It was an inspiring time. We all worked together intensively, preparing gesso panels, and painting vigorously to the sounds of music for inspiration, varied occasionally by odd recordings Peter had made of the amplified sound of snails eating cabbage. Peter specialized in Surreal pictures of umbrellas; Jack Ray did Cathedrals in copper and resin, and Steve Snell, Alan Senior and I did Visionary paintings.

The Inscape Group flourished, and we were joined by artists Richard Jones, who was a dwarf and painted powerful pictures of dwarves, Christiane Kubrick, who painted magic realism, Jan Clutterbuck our first watercolourist and Diana Hesketh, our first Sculptor.

We began to show our work abroad, and were invited by Ernst Fuchs to take part in an unusual Summer Seminar at a huge Castle in the Austrian mountains.

Ernst Fuchs had gathered artists from all over the world; America, Japan, Iceland, Sweden, Germany, Israel. Artists set up their easels;- some in turrets, some in the balconies or the vast high ceilinged rooms, and we vied with each other to produce our greatest masterpieces, exchanging ideas and techniques It became the sort of artistic Brotherhood I had always dreamed of.

Ernst Fuchs’s GalleryErnst Fuchs showed us the astonishing egg tempera and oil technique of the Italian Renaissance Masters, which he had rediscovered after much research, and now called the ‘Mische Technique’. We worked in layers of white egg tempera separated by coloured glazes. It took us far beyond our own approaches to studying technique.

In the evenings everything changed, and we became just as eager to have fun! There was dancing, singing, and heated discussions about Rembrandt, Vermeer and Jackson Pollock in corners. Wolfgang Manner, who directed the Seminar and was also a Mountain Rescue leader, would umpire heated discussions (possibly brought on by the Schnapps made by the local farmers from cherries) between  New Yorker Phil Jacobson (who now leads Summer Seminars himself), an Icelander known as "Fishfingers" and Yoko Shiraishi (who's mother had bright pink hair and was the top Japanese poet).

Ilan Kutz, a Major in the Israeli Army, who had just returned from the Entebbe raid, played and sang for us all on his guitar. Elisa Halvegard from Sweden made garlands of flowers for everyone to wear, and embroidered fairies on people’s clothes in odd places when they weren’t looking. At night the poorer artists slept in a dormitory and when one couple started sharing a bed, and being  too noisy, Richard Jones got up and poured a jug of water over them. There were some strange characters there. Marielle (from Germany) got up early every morning to collect butterflies, and was enraged when Joseph (from Haarlem, New York), ate them.

At the end of the Summer there was an Exhibition in the Great Ballroom of the Castle, and the local dignitaries were invited to the Opening and a Masked Ball.

Richard- who although he is a dwarf has a giant voice - stood at the top of the Grand Staircase wearing a black cape and a sword (he said he was Draculet). He held up a flaming seven branched cantlestick and shouted; “Men can only speak to the Gods through the Dwarves. But the Men are killing all the Dwarves. And soon, the Men will no longer be able to hear the voices of the Gods!” Then he staggered into the gardens and was sick.

Back home in England when everyone had recovered we decided that this was a marvelous experience, and returned every year for over a decade. Then in 1993 Ernst Fuchs called a meeting in Metternich Castle in Austria for Imaginative artists and Patrons. There Laurie Lipton and I met H R Giger, Bruno Weber, De Es Schwertberger, Mati Klarwein, and Mauro Albarelli,  Ernst Fuchs asked us all to work to help promote Fantastic and Visionary Art, and thanks to Inscape International we were ready to form the Society for Art of Imaginaton, which is open so we changed the small INSCAPE Group' into the SOCIETY FOR ART OF IMAGINATION; open to any imaginative artist in the world. Since then we have been privileged to help many artists to further their careers, and to stage Exhibitions all over the world. It has become truly a Brotherhood of Artists!"

Brigid Marlin is also one of 50 artists published in: Metamorphosis.

Posted in Artist Resources, History of Art, Paintings | No Comments »

TOP
Metamorphosis Art Book - 50 Surreal, Fantastic and Visionary Artists

Jon Beinart founded The beinArt Surreal Art Collective & beinArt Publishing (Metamorphosis) in 2006. beinArt.org was designed and is maintained by Leo Plaw. All artists have granted permission to be featured on this website. All art herein is copyrighted and may not be reproduced without the express permission of the respective artists. beinArt.org represents contemporary artists who lean towards: Fantastic Realism, Surrealism, Symbolism, Pop Surrealism, Lowbrow, Psychedelic, Visionary, Esoteric, Erotic & Macabre Art.