Brad Kunkle

Born in rural Pennsylvania, Brad Kunkle spent his younger years exploring and romanticizing the beauty of the sparse countryside and the deep forests around him.  From an early age he was drawn to the worlds of Maxfield Parrish and the Pre-Raphaelites  –worlds, he says,  “where a subtle, supernatural beauty seems to be hiding under the breath of women –worlds where something beyond our natural perception is waiting to be found.”

He studied painting at Kutztown University mostly under George Sorrels, who was taught by a pupil of the 19th century Academic painter, William Adolphe Bougereau.   His minimal palette is inspired by the grisailles of early European masters and the haunting quality of antique photographs and daguerreotypes.

As a decorative painter in his mid twenties, he leafed entire walls in copper.  Beguiled by the shifting, life-like nature of the surfaces, Brad began to incorporate gilding in his work, which provided the unreal quality he had been looking for to convey his moody, romantic ideas of human nature and ritual.

Brad’s work has appeared on the covers of International Artist and American Art Collector magazine as well as in Fine Art Connoisseur, American Arts Quarterly and Kunst.  His world premiere solo exhibition sold out opening night in April of 2010 at Arcadia Fine Arts in New York City.  Since then he has exhibited in Berlin and is now preparing for his second solo exhibition at Arcadia Fine Arts in the spring of 2012.  He lives and works in New York City.