. Kathleen Kucka, (born in Hartford, Connecticut) is an American painter.
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Kucka earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1984, at the The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York. In 1994 she earned her Master of Fine Arts at the Hunter College, also New York.
Kathleen Kucka's work combines two seemingly opposed entities: biomorphic forms and manmade structures. She moves freely between these poles, which when studied in relation, enhance each other’s unique characteristics. Through this parallel pursuit, Kucka establishes an imaginative zone, a cross section formed by two overlapping orbits. In this unusual space, she formulates her vocabulary. She continues to derive inspiration from nature, while focusing her attention on geometry. This approach reflects a keen interest in 20th Century and contemporary abstraction. In fact, her new body of work can be understood as a contemplation of this genre’s facets, its traditional variations, values and historical chapters. As a group, Kucka’s two- and three-dimensional works share one common duality: they allude to both micro- and macrocosms. Associations range from cell structures to cosmic star constellations, from clearly defined sections to seemingly infinite spheres. Meanwhile, they embrace a sense of fluctuation. When studying these compositions, it is challenging to decide whether our gaze is narrowing in on a concrete detail, or if we are observing something from afar. It is Kucka’s strength that she leaves us guessing, wondering if we are witnessing a scene documented through a microscope or captured from an aerial view. Her work though suggests that to find an answer is not a necessity. In Kucka’s realm, we find ourselves reminded of the interrelations between all things, be they of a natural or manmade origin.
Benjamin Genocchio from the New York Times,[1] describes Kucka's work as resembling microscopic images of human tissue. He was referring to the exposition "I Dream of Genomes" in the Islip Art Museum in 2008.
Kucka herself describes her work[2] as a “collage done with paint” that creates a “dance of movement and patterns.”