Brad Kunkle, 1978 | Symbolist painter

Brad Kunkle was born in Lehighton, Pennsylvania, and has a BFA in painting from Kutztown University. He lives and works in New York City. N.B.

Brad’s work is a blend of conceptual art and impeccable technical skills. He produces works that tell secret, complex stories in a mood that is influenced by his use of overcast lighting and a nearly monochromatic color scheme. He merges realism, fantasy and psychological depth.

His works are considered to be Symbolist and Surrealist in style, rather than Realist. Though there are elements of Realism in his works.

He started using gold after a trip to the Louvre Museum in Paris. He was inspired by the gilded ceilings and decided to start including gold in his paintings.

The women depicted are at one with nature, they are nature itself. In these paintings the lighting is different depending on the angle from which the work is observed.

Butterflies, birds and leaves surround Kunkle’s otherworldly women in energy vortexes, as if their bodies were about to dematerialise and turn into these natural and delicate things.

A decade after selling out his debut solo exhibition in New York City on opening night, Brad Kunkle has become internationally known for his unique use of gold and silver leaf in contemporary oil painting.

The surfaces of these oil paintings are embellished with genuine gold and silver leaf. These precious metals are used as symbolic elements as well as visual instruments to interact with viewer's movements and environment. The leafed areas will shift with the intensity of light in a space, or as one simply walks across the room.

His themes explore the shedding of dogmas inherited from previous generations, intuition, and the power of feminine energies as guides for seeking enlightenment in symbiosis with the natural world.

Brad Kunkle è un artista statunitense🎨, nato in Pennsylvania a Lehighton nel 1978, ha studiato arte alla BFA, l’università di Kutztown.

Il lavoro di Brad è una miscela di arte concettuale e abilità tecniche impeccabili.

Produce opere che raccontano storie segrete e complesse in uno stato d'animo influenzato dal uso dell'illuminazione diffusa e da uno schema cromatico quasi monocromatico.

Sebbene ci siano elementi di realismo le sue opere, sono considerate simboliste e surrealiste in stile, piuttosto che realiste.

Dopo aver lavorato esclusivamente in olio, si è interessato alla possibilità di aggiunta della foglia oro ed argento nei suoi dipinti, prendendo ispirazione da Gustav Klimt🎨.

Ciò ha prodotto opere le cui superfici brillano e si spostano con la luce.

Le donne nelle sue opere diventano tutt'uno con la natura, sono la natura stessa.