Kunkle

Born to a woodworking father and folk painting mother I spent many weekends as a child at arts and craft shows around Alabama. Despite my early exposure to the world of working artists, I never thought I was capable of creating art. In fact, I didn’t really pick up a paintbrush until my 30’s. Fortunately, a fire was lit, an opportunity to have a significant impact on my community and culture was realized, and it felt as though I’d found my voice and purpose. Unbeknownst to me, I’d also developed a cataract in my left eye as the result of a childhood accident. The undiagnosed cataract inhibited my vision, impairing my depth perception and inadvertently impacted my use of color and lines; strongly affecting my style. With artistic influences that run the gamut from working peers to traditional folk arts to pop and surrealism masters, my work is a marriage of genres incorporating my love for books, music, humor, and beauty. Using an array of salvaged substrates I produce a wide ranging body of work that includes paintings, mixed media, assemblage, and sculpture often addressing social and cultural issues with a voice that attempts to speak truth to power and promote equality while representing a new generation of progressive Southern artists and idealists.