Taymour Grahne Projects is pleased to present Windows, a solo show by LA-based Craig Kucia.
The word window is believed to have first come into use around the 13th Century, derived from the Old Norse vindauga, meaning window-eye. There is the obvious overtly physical capacity of the window to provide protection in partnership with natural light, but it is the less tangible, more metaphoric context that Kucia seeks to explore in his latest series of 20 paintings.
Kucia is interested in the renaissance idea that painting is a window into the world and a medium that can blur the boundaries between the real and imagined. In Kucia’s paintings one finds colourful saturated skies, landscapes that are realised in pattern form, suspended objects that reference the uncanny and various other identifiable elements that have been interpretated in an extraordinary way. The playful explorations are bounded by an imagined painted window frame that crosses across the canvas and divides the painting into four sections. There is an additional note of intrigue to consider - as the painted frames are paired with a physical real life wooden frame that borders the four exterior sides of the canvas. Here one finds a unique interaction at play between the conceptually constructed frame and the tangible wooden one.
The idea of windows, notions of peering out, has a deep resonance with Kucia. His father passed away two years ago and this triggered an appreciation for how little control one has over their internal happenings. It was during this realisation that the pandemic hit and Kucia describes feeling “a strong duality of being in a familiar place and wanting to be outside of it at the same time”. This experience underscored the process of creating the latest body of work. In particular, a sense of nostalgia found its way into the paintings – albeit on an unconscious level for the artist.
The act of peering into a window is essentially an endeavour into curiosity. It is this inquisitiveness - wanting to discover something - that the paintings encourage. So they steer away from illustrating identifiable locations and instead embrace the feeling they could be anywhere, in any home from the grand to the simple and down to earth. The fact that these scenes could be theoretically be found in the most modest of homes plays homage to the original origins of the window and the fundamental impulse for humankind to create vantage points into the world around them.
Craig Kucia was born in Cleveland, OH and currently lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Cleveland Institute of Art. Kucia’s most recent exhibitions include at The Pit, California (2021), L21, Spain (2021), Maki Gallery, Tokyo (2020), Mindy Solomon, Miami (2020), Taymour Grahne Projects, [online], 2020, The Pit, California (2020) and IBID Gallery, Los Angeles (2018). His work has been included in thematic exhibitions such as Shara Hughs Craig Kucia John Mcallister Marisa Takal at Shane Campbell Gallery (2019); TEN at Artist Curated Projects, Los Angeles CA (2018); Time + Temp at Art And Culture Center of Hollywood, Hollywood FL (2009); Thoughts on Democracy at Wolfsonian Museum, Miami FL (2008); Summer Show at Marlborough Gallery, New York (2008); Neointegrity at Derek Eller Gallery, New York (2007); Drawing Narrative at Wooster Art Museum, Wooster OH (2005); Eye of the Needle at Roberts & Tilton, Los Angeles (2004); among others. His work is included in the collections of Progressive Art, Cleveland OH; Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Perez Art Museum, Miami FL; High Museum of Art, Atlanta GA; and the Mugrabi Family Collection.
