I’ve just seen one of the most impressive displays of mixed media artistry at the Meta Gallery in Toronto’s historic Distillery District. The gallery is currently hosting a two man show featuring the mixed media sculpture works of Kris Kuksi and the dark digital prints of Andrew Jones. Hands down, Kris Kuksi has stolen the show. He really should be shown alone. I can’t image too many artists who wouldn’t be upstaged by his artwork. Sorry Andrew.

There’s nothing like being confronted by masterful Art to make you feel like a complete hack. Kris’s sculptures are over the top. Impressive doesn’t even begin to describe them. I know it sounds like I’m blowing smoke up his backside but I can’t help the way they make me feel. His mixed media assemblages are both enthralling and off-puting at the same time. I’d liken the feeling to being entranced by a spiders eight legged dance of death in a beautifully spun web while suffering from arachnaphobia. Watching makes the hairs on your neck stand up but at the same time you – just – can’t – look – away!

Click on a pic for a closer view.

And look you should because you’ll never see the same thing twice. Artwork with this kind of detail and intricacy never gets tired. Made up of found objects, busts and action figures, toy cars, railroad model parts, star wars toys, miscellaneous airplane/train/ship model pieces and even industrial hardware/fasteners Kris’s work will always give you something new to look at depending on where you view it from. From the top, from the bottom, to the left or right each sculpture is made up of a million tiny pieces and will afford you a million different viewing experiences. Okay, maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration but you get the idea.

With overtones of the military establishment and the forced enslavement of the working classes to keep it running Kris’s work, beyond being beautiful, has some strong social comments to make. Where is the seat of power? Who has authority to deal out death and will it come for them one day too? Who can escape death and should we really be questing after it so boldly?

Inricate, elaborate, frenetic and engaging the macabre work of Kris Kuksi has a little bit of something for everyone and is worth checking out. He’ll be at the Meta Gallery (with Andrew Jones) until June 14th. Get out and see it today!

For now, that is all. Goodnight.

 

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 4th, 2009 at 12:56 pm and is filed under Articles, on ART . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.