* All images used with permission. Please do not distribute without first contacting the artist.
Kukula was born in a relatively isolated village about an hour north of Tel Aviv. Her few neighbors were mostly retirees, many of them Holocaust survivors. As a result her childhood imagination was nourished by equal parts princess fantasies and World War II horror stories. Thus the attempt to reconcile real life horror with fantasy life sweetness emerges as an almost constant theme in her work.
After receiving her degree in illustration in 2003 After receiving her degree in illustration from Vital-Shenkar in 2003, Kukula moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where she is currently based. She has worked with galleries such as CoproNason, Corey Helford, Thinkspace, Shooting Gallery and Roq La Rue.
Kukula’s paintings center on feminine, doll-like figures, often surrounded by objects with sometimes clear, sometimes obscure symbolic meaning. The work registers the influences of both classical European art forms and contemporary pop culture. In her figures’ poses Kukula recalls classical portraiture, yet the style is manifestly modern and pop-influenced. Kukula’s compositions thereby disclose her personal struggles as mediated by a rich multi-cultural heritage.
