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Brad Kunkle www.bradkunkle.com

Born in rural Pennsylvania, Brad Kunkle spent his younger years exploring and romanticizing the beauty of the sparse countryside and the deep forests around him. From an early age he was drawn to the worlds of Maxfield Parrish and the Pre-Raphaelites —worlds, he says, “where a subtle, supernatural beauty seems to be hiding under the breath of women —worlds where something beyond our natural perception is waiting to be found.”

Brad graduated with a degree in fine arts from Kutztown University, studying mostly under George Sorrels, who was taught by a pupil of the 19th century Academic painter, William Adolphe Bougereau. In an effort to discover his own artistic sensibilities, he worked as a commission-based portraitist, and began an almost decade-long journey of continued self-instruction and independent study. As a decorative painter in his mid twenties, he leafed entire walls in copper. He was beguiled by the shifting, life-like nature of the surfaces, and began to incorporate gilding in his work. This proved to fulfill the unreal quality he had been looking for to convey his moody, romantic ideas of human nature and ritual. In an old wooden box that holds his paints, he keeps a slip of paper with a quote from Pablo Picasso. “You must always work not just within but below your means. If you can handle three elements, handle only two. If you can handle ten, handle only five. In that way, the ones you do handle, you handle with such ease, more mastery and you create a feeling of strength in reserve.”

Brad’s work has appeared in American Art Collector magazine as well as Fine Art Connoisseur. He is represented by Arcadia Fine Arts in NYC and will have his first one man exhibition in April of 2010.

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Right

The Gold Choker oil, silver and gold on linen

64” x 21”

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“I paint to connect with the part of being human that is

beautiful and slightly dark, stripped to it’s truth and always

changing —The part of being human that appears to be

romantic, but feels very real.” BRAD REUBEN KUNKLE

Girl with Serpents and Pearls oil, silver and gold on linen 25” x 30”

Revelen

oil and gold on

linen

11” x 8”

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Feathers & Mirror

oil and silver on

linen

31” x 15”

October

oil and silver on linen

14” x 13”

BRAD KUNKLE

Where do you find your inspiration? Dreams, nightmares, the amazing people who model for me, nature – mostly the forests of Pennsylvania where I grew up. The light on overcast days, fashion, daguerreotypes and early photographic processes. Lately the paintings of Arthur Hacker and Gustave Corbet, the crazy things I read in the newspaper, the constant and ever present quest for humans to find something supernatural or spiritual or extraordinary within our material and apparent existence. T he possibility of all things supernatural. L ately the author Tom Robbins. A ll of the images of the P reraphaelites and Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema that have been imprinted in my mind. William Morris. Myths And Legends. Joseph Campbell. Klimt. O ther people creating things around me. T he femme fatale. S trange senses of space. T ruth and honesty. S ilence. Ingres’ Grand Odelesque in Grisaille always. P atterns. The power of composition and form alone in a really good abstract painting. A lot of things I’m forgetting.

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Two Suns

oil and gold on linen

21” x 12”

Q & A BRAD KUNKLE

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Do you have a ritual you follow before each new work is started? I suppose my preparation of each canvas is a bit of a ritual. I apply several layers of oil primer with a knife and sand in between coats. I realize this is not unusual but the ritualistic part of it for me comes from the difference I feel when working on a surface that I haven’t put my own sweat and tears in preparing. I ’ve done some paintings on pre- primed linens and it never feels the same to me. I t’s like I ’m building a cabin on someone else’s land.

What do you hope art historians will say about your work 300 years from now? Hmmm....2310? With all of the amazing art out there already, and all of the beautiful things that will be made in the next 300 years, if art historians care enough to be talking about my stuff in 2310, that’s good enough for me. T hey can say whatever they want.

What is your hidden talent? I moonlight as a bass player in an I ndie rock band called Aderbat and now a new project called Mammal of Paradise.

Eidolon

oil, gold and silver on linen

64” x 36”

One of the paintings I’m most proud of is “The Proposition”. It was inspired by the debate over the success of Proposition 8 in California and it was the first piece of art I had made that was addressing current events. I consciously chose to heavily reference Albrecht Durer’s “The Fall of Man” etching. It was challenging because I was tackling a very controversial topic and I wanted to make sure it was a beautiful painting first and foremost. It has the exact feeling I intended to convey and that’s the most rewarding. The piece itself was the largest painting I had ever done at that point. I was really happy with the way the gold and silver were pushing and pulling in space against the figures. The underpainting was a little warmer than I had previously worked with and that made for some really great shadows. This was also the first painting I did that I used rags and Q-tips to wipe out the leaves of the trees, instead of painting them in an additive method with a brush. It was something that just made sense to me and now I use rags and Q-tips a lot in this sort of a negative finger painting fashion, mostly for leaves and vegetation. It’s a way for me to make these loose abstract marks around my refined figures. It has become an important part of the way I paint and it all started with this particular painting.

00 poetsandartists.com BRAD KUNKLE

What medium have you not used in the past that you may wish to try out? I’m really looking forward to experimenting with water gilding. I’m a self taught gilder and I use all oil gilding processes. Water gilding is very different from what I understand and I think it will open new doors for me.

How did 2009 treat you? 2009 was just so surreal. At the beginning of the year I was penniless and staying with a friend of mine in Pennsylvania, but I have to rewind to the end of 2008 for context. Back then I was doing mostly commissioned paintings and all that work was suddenly gone with the economy tanking. I decided to take a chance and just focus on my personal work instead of looking for jobs to keep paying the rent. I was aware of all the galleries closing doors at the

time, but I decided to go for it anyway. I felt that I had no choice. The inspiration was there and I felt committed. So anyway, a friend of mine offered me a place to live and work for next to nothing. I decided to become a recluse until I had enough paintings finished to start knocking on gallery doors. I painted and scraped by for a good 6 months and in the Spring of 2009 I had a collection of work that I was really proud of. In April I started showing a few pieces with Arcadia Gallery in NYC and things went so well that they offered me my first one man exhibition, which is opening this year on April 22nd. My lucky number. And I do feel very lucky. In 2009 I had the support of a lot of amazing friends that inspired and modeled for me, made sure I had a roof over my head and believed in me, including all those guys at Arcadia. I moved to Brooklyn in December and so now i’m living in NYC. I love it. I’ll never forget 2009.

Introspective: The Proposition Right

The Proposition oil, silver and gold on linen

31” x 52”