Artist6: Kris Kuski

Artist Kris Kuski successfully pulls together the wash of passion found in Rococo and Baroque while still maintaining intricacy not often seen outside of delicate clockwork machines. His pieces combine sculpted marble with bits of metal - sometimes bullets - and plastic, each tiny piece working in concert. The figures in his work are inescapably reminiscent of Renaissance marble sculptures like Michelangelo's David and often deal with equally ancient characters and stories, applying them to modern events and concepts.

Kuski's use of the ancient and archaic in his modern work is meant to incite an introspective look into humanity's past. He says, "...humanity is doomed if they can't see the result of repeated historical rise and falls. Perhaps it is as simple as we just aren't smart enough to save ourselves." Religion is also a common theme. He often depicts religious symbols, architecture (e.g. churches, steeples), and scenes with weapons, commenting on religion's violent history. Kuski tends to fixate on the dark and grotesque, showing death and dismemberment in many of his pieces. He discusses in Professional Artist using these shocking images as an analogies to loss - loss of freedom, loss of love, etc. Perhaps these images are intended to push the viewer out of their perceived stupor and complacency and spur them to act, averting Kuski's apocalyptic projections. 

Kris Kruski's meticulously assembled work, applying both ancient and modern techniques, puts the audience in the Plain of Limbo, caught between the ages of human history. He's attempting to force the viewer to view ancient disasters and events not as distant stories but as pieces of the collective human memory. His work argues that we should carefully observe our past and apply the knowledge and comprehension yielded to present and impending woes.