Brad Kunkle's Paintings

Brad Kunkle is an American artist who was born in Lexington, Pennsylvania in 1978. Brad graduated from the University of Fine and Visual Arts in Kudstown in 2001. Kutztown University granted him a BFA in painting. Brad Kunkle currently resides and works in New York City. Brad's work combines conceptual art with outstanding technical skills. The young artist currently resides and works in Brooklyn, New York. Brad Kunkle's paintings have been actively displayed in numerous group exhibitions since 2009. Brad Kunkle has become worldwide famous for his unusual use of gold and silver leaves in modern oil painting a decade after his initial solo exhibition sold out on opening night in New York City.

"When I create a sky in a painting, the reflected light on the surface is a direct connection to the passage of light into the viewer's reality." (Kunkle, Brad)

"Realism to me is any form of painting that allows the viewer to easily identify the subject, to the exclusion of abstract or strongly expressed forms... and the subject is rooted in reality." (Brad Kunkle)

"I consider myself a symbolist rather than a surrealist." Most of my work contains a lot more concept than it appears at first sight. Realism does not interest me enough to desire to be a realist... yet I believe some of my work is too simple to be classified as realism." (Brad Kunkle)

"My paintings are less about history and more about mythology." The concept is that we may spend our entire lives doing precisely what society or religion expects of us... or we can genuinely establish our own identity without these dogmas and expectations imposed by others by listening to our own truth, intuition, and nature." (Brad Kunkle)

The surfaces of these oil paintings are embellished with genuine gold and silver leaf. These precious metals are employed as both symbolic components and visual instruments to interact with the motions of the observer and the surroundings. The strength of the light in the environment, or even walking across the room, can cause the leaf regions to vary. Brad Kunkle creates amazing, dreamy landscapes of ladies wrapped in bizarre layers of foliage. In the paintings, the leaves are converted into a background of water, wind, soil, or air. Brad Kunkle's paintings include a range of materials. This is a fusion of oil paintings with metal, particularly gold and silver. The distinctive textures of actual precious metal leaves not only draw attention and aid in the placement of important accents, but also communicate the artist's thoughts contained in the paintings.