Craig Kucia: ...and no one had anything to say

SHAHEEN Modern and Contemporary Art is delighted to announce an exhibition of recent paintings by Cleveland based artist and Cleveland Institute of Art alumnus Craig Kucia.  There will be an opening reception for the artist on Friday, April 23rd, from 5:30 - 8:00 p.m.  The exhibition will continue through June 4th. 

Since his first ever one-person gallery exhibition at SHAHEEN in June of 2000, Craig Kucia's work has been featured in the group exhibition Trailer at GreeneNaftali (NY); a two person exhibition at Blum & Poe (Los Angeles) in the summer of 2002, which co-featured artist Aaron Noble; and a solo exhibition at Miami's Kevin Bruk Gallery this past October.  From Fall 2002 - Fall 2003 the artist attended the one year graduate painting program at London's Chelsea School of Art.  While in London, Kucia was selected to participate in the 2003 East International exhibition.  Held annually at Norwich College of Art and Design's Norwich Gallery, and guest curated by different curators, artists or dealers each year, East International has included dozens of now familiar contemporary artists over the years.  In addition to his upcoming exhibition at SHAHEEN, Kucia's work will be appearing in Light and Atmosphere at the Miami Art Museum.  Curated by Cheryl Hartup, Light and Atmosphere will also include works in a variety of media by Sean Scully, Rineke Dijkstra, Philip-Lorca di Corcia, and James Casebere, among many others.

Often derived from specific memories or personal photographs, many of Kucia's paintings to date have concerned themselves with childhood, and the conditions and experiences of working-class suburban life.  More recently, the artist's imagery has slipped into an increasingly hybridized space between memory and imagination, where childhood and adult recollections and experiences trigger a variety of vaguely narrative, partially imagined and, sometimes, metaphorical scenes.  Kucia's paintings synthesize his awareness of pertinent dialogues surrounding contemporary painting with specific personal experiences, memory, and the free-wheeling, cut-and-paste sensibility of a young artist who came of age visually during the 1980's and '90's.  As such, the works tend to slip freely between genres, ultimately eluding easy classification.