The pandemic unlocked new feelings for many people. For Texas-based painter Kukula, she remembers experiencing grief, anguish and pain in a very acute way. “We all went through a change during Covid, but my 5-year-old wouldn’t let me dwell in pain,” the artist says. “At one point my cat died and I cried for a month. I was told, ‘Mom, you can’t cry all the time.’” It was a simple but profound message.
Lucrezia’s Wedding, oil on panel, 16 x 12"
Kukula took those experiences and painted them into her new works, which will appear in a show opening June 16 at Haven Gallery in Northport, New York. One of the threads that connect the new paintings is the concept of Zohar, a Jewish mystical theory within the Kabbalah. “The inspiration took me to a non-religious path in observing life and its meaning, and questioning if there even is one,” she says. “There is beauty in the acceptance of the sequel of one’s life. The story that is being told through pain and joy, with the fragile and flitting existence of moments and memories…”
Little Mirror, oil on panel, 24 x 20"
Kukula, who is from Israel, describes Zohar as a religion in a place where religion is also cultural. But it’s also a way of communicating. “Artists don’t get art therapy. We have to communicate through our work,” she says, adding that she paints Zohar amid the “candy” of her color and surrealist figures.
Quarantina, oil on panel, 48 x 24"
New works include Lucrezia’s Wedding, which shows a dour bride decked out for her wedding day amid contrasting emotions of happy and sad, and Little Mirror, which shows a beautiful woman in pink lingerie in a pink room and yet wearing black shoes with exaggerated black bows on them. The imagery, playful and yet also serious, is meant to evoke a wide range of emotions, from glee and beauty to turmoil and angst.
The Gardener, oil on panel, 22 x 18"
“Kukula’s grandiose portraits intertwine historical paintings with contemporary motifs, transmogrifying traditionally acclaimed canons into current aesthetics radiating personal expression, elegance and subcultural motifs,” says Erica Berkowitz, owner and curator at Haven Gallery. “Inspired by visual culture at its finest, the Rococo artists, anime, high fashion and distinguished celebrated objects, each sitter is uniquely adorned in ornamental detail work, representing the powerful expression of both the sitter and artist, highlighting the presence and impact humans make on one another in our ephemeral existence. Her work is a celebration of personal expression, life, beauty and creativity as articulated through effluent palettes and her timeless subjects.”
The show will continue at Haven Gallery through July 17 in New York. —
Haven Gallery 50 Main Street • Northport, NY 11768 • (631) 757-0500 • www.havengallery.com
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