Sinisa Kukec

Where are you from and how long have you been in Miami?

I was born in Zagreb, Croatia, 1970, the former Yugoslavia...a country that was slammed together by the prevailing nations after World War II...it was a buffer zone during the cold war...I grew up in Canada where they have universal health care, gun control and 40 below winters...unfortunately Canada’s political landscape has been hijacked by the so called Conservative party...Sad Face. I have been in the USA for some time now, since 1997. I was rewarded the extraordinary artist green card while residing here in the “Philistine State Of Florida”...Some other states I have resided in: Montana, Colorado, New York, Pennsylvania. The Magic city has been my home for five long years. 

Why did you decide to relocate to Miami?

I was living in Palm Beach (long story) and going through an existential melt down...Miami seemed like a good idea at the time. In Red - 2011

What do you love most about Miami?

That’s a good question. 

What is your preferred medium and why?

For the longest time the ceramic process was my preference. I did my graduate studies at Alfred University. I have not used clay for some time now...not having the facilities here in Miami. I had no choice but to discover new ways of working. Over the years I have found other materials that provide me with similar effects, the most obvious would be epoxy resin. It allows me to glaze at room temperature. But really, what ever I can get my hands on...My studio is filled with Sh$%#T! 

Could you elaborate on some of the techniques and materials you use?

There is a lot of studio folk physics going on. Gravity has had a strong effect on my techniques with materials such as epoxy, tempera, and graphite. Also, I have never lived in a city with so much trash on the side of the road, at the end of each month you can potentially find a whole new body of work. I have been attracted to office furniture, desks, chairs, etc.. etc.. what I like to call points of power furniture. My greatest find was an Eames lounge chair that belonged to a very well known taste maker...The title of the piece is “S.H.A.H.A.A.A.G.E.”. Gravity did a real number on this portrait.

Seduction must never rest - 2011 Your art has a distinct style. How do you describe your art?

Thank you! It comes from my consciousness and observations of all the things that are outside of me. I could and do stare at epoxy drying. I most recently described my work as “A Cosmic Post Contemporary Psychedelic Melodrama”.

Much of your work incorporates bright colors. What do these color schemes represent?

The work has not always been so colorful...a lot of the work that you have seen comes from a body of work showed at Spinello Projects, Scope Miami last year, titled “FAREWELL FOUNTAIN”. In the work, I was fighting for love in a dream. I guess I do not dream in black and white. 

Why do you create three-dimensional art?

Like Magic...Simply to create an illusion, inside the illusion, inside the illusion...etc...etc...

The surfaces of your art have a mirror-like quality. Is it part of the experience of the art to see ones reflection?

Yes! I would like to think so! For as long as I can remember reflective surfaces and the abstraction of self via reflection have always fascinated me. The Greek myth of Echo and Narcissus has always had a strong influence on my being as well...quite often I find myself playing either role...Echo being a reflector of words or language...Narcissus being one of image or illusion.'The Second Horizon -2011

The text in some of the pieces adds to the abstraction. What is the inspiration behind the text?

I feel the text began when my last “love” ended a lot of the words were for her. Also, I think social media has definitely influenced the text. Over the past year I have been working with a Croatian artist / writer Isha Rose Servitus, she is a self proclaimed luddite, loner, and has misanthropic tendencies (we get along well)...I have become her conduit particularly on Facebook. I often post her quotes. We are working together on a book. I would like to self publish some time in 2013 if we make it that far. 'We' meaning humanity as we know it 

The Second Horizon detail You work with Spinello Project. How did the connection come about?

Serendipity! 

Please tell us about some of your upcoming shows

I have a solo show that opens August 10th 2012 at Redux, Contemporary Art Center, Charleston, South Carolina. Titled “FROM VOID TO VOID”. There are a few things in the works