Brad Kunkle – Leaf Painting
Brad Kunkle was born in Lehighton, Pennsylvania in 1978, and has a BFA in painting from Kutztown University. He lives and works in New York City. He paints these dreamlike scenes of women wrapped and hidden in layers of leaves which often have a function of water, wind, blankets, earth or perhaps all of the above. The surfaces of the oil paintings are decorated with genuine gold and silver leaf. These metals are used as symbolic elements as well as visual ones. Brad’s first admission of love for gold came when he was in the Louvre spending more time staring at the gilded ceilings than he was at the paintings on the walls. This beauty was overwhelming to him. Brad stored it in the back of his mind and finally created these stunning leaf paintings.
