This Friday, November 15th, Mark Moore Gallery will present Antiquity in the Faux, a sophomore solo exhibition of mixed-media assemblage works by artist Kris Kuksi. Oftentimes appearing as unorthodox altarpieces, Kuksi's sculptural wall works have been heralded for their superabundance of detail and narrative – as several theatrical microcosms may converge to produce one sensory fable. Teeming with struggle, conflict, faith, sexuality, and power, his works afford the viewer a ringside seat for allegorical spectacle as the spheres of fantasy and reality collide.

This Friday, November 15th, Mark Moore Gallery will present Antiquity in the Faux, a sophomore solo exhibition of mixed-media assemblage works by artist Kris Kuksi. Oftentimes appearing as unorthodox altarpieces, Kuksi's sculptural wall works have been heralded for their superabundance of detail and narrative – as several theatrical microcosms may converge to produce one sensory fable. Teeming with struggle, conflict, faith, sexuality, and power, his works afford the viewer a ringside seat for allegorical spectacle as the spheres of fantasy and reality collide.

Kuksi’s ornate compositions call to mind the excessive intricacies of Art Nouveau or Baroque aesthetics. From a distance, these sculptures are deceptively decorative, but upon closer inspection Kuksi's grotesque realities emerge. In some works, central figures preside over mounting chaos below; infinitesimal creatures, soldiers, and machinery collide with their larger counterparts, and forge a warscape void of time and place. In others, Kuksi achieves a precise structural equilibrium in which his minute armies become a single enormous figure – as if the proverbial Trojan Horse is operated by its most aberrant inhabitants. Reminiscent of Hieronymus Bosch’s “Garden of Earthly Delights,” Kuksi’s characters inhabit a world rife with sin, corruption, and tragedy; an existence not so alien to our own.

The artist obsessively collects and arranges a variety of cultural flotsam and jetsam – figurines, model parts, collectibles, craft parts, and jewelry. The carefully curated and protracted collection process required for each piece renders each and every item a precious and integral object in these apocalyptic dioramas. The political, spiritual, and material conflicts captured within these shrines expose Kuksi’s disenchantment with the past, present, and future state of the world. His dimensional works are a macabre reflection that mirrors our own (ultimately futile) quest for accumulation and prowess. Yet, despite the overwhelming despair and irredeemable fallacies of man that Kuksi explores, a romantic and wistful quality perseveres in the amalgamation of these tiny, independent elements. As is found within our own cyclical global history, the embattled often find light within their trials.

Kris Kuksi "Antiquity in the Faux"
Mark Moore Gallery
Los Angeles, CA

November 15th - December 20th, 2014