Kris Kuksi

(American, born 1973)

Kris Kuksi is an American artist best known for his elaborate artworks that glean inspiration from Baroque and Rococo architecture. With a practice that encompasses assemblage, painting, and drawing, Kuksi uses a mixture of influences to create dramatic juxtapositions of a macabre industrial aesthetic within the controlled arrangements and symmetry of Gothic cathedrals and ancient Hindu relief sculptures. The artist frequently depicts imagery of machinery, skeletons, and discarded toys in a wholly unique imaginative aesthetic. Kuksi’s work can be seen as a descendant of earlier fantastical artists, including both the early Flemish master Hieronymous Bosch and 20th-century illustrator H.R. Giger. Born on March 2, 1973 in Springfield, Missouri, Kuksi went on to study at Fort Hayes University in Kansas where he received both his BFA and MFA. Today, his works are held in the collections of director Guillermo del Toro and the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, among others. The artist lives and works in Lawrence, KS.