Alan Kurpakus
browns mills, new jersey
Alan J Kurpakus Bachelors of Fine Arts, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
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Alan (born, Taipei , Taiwan) makes paintings, photos, drawings and mixed media artworks. By taking daily life as subject matter while commenting on the everyday aesthetic of middle class values, Alan often creates work using creative game tactics, but these are never permissive. Play is a serious matter: during the game, different rules apply than in everyday life and even everyday objects undergo transubstantiation.
His paintings are characterized by the use of everyday objects in an atmosphere of middle-class mentality in which recognition plays an important role. By referencing romanticism, grand-guignolesque black humor and symbolism, he creates work through labour-intensive processes which can be seen explicitly as a personal exorcism ritual. They are inspired by a nineteenth-century tradition of works, in which an ideal of ‘Fulfilled Absence’ was seen as the pinnacle.
His works are often classified as part of the new romantic movement because of the desire for the local in the unfolding globalized world. However, this reference is not intentional, as this kind of art is part of the collective memory. By using popular themes such as sexuality, family structure and violence, he touches various overlapping themes and strategies. Several reoccurring subject matter can be recognized, such as the relation with popular culture and media, working with repetition, provocation and the investigation of the process of expectations.
His works often refers to pop and mass culture. Using written and drawn symbols, a world where light-heartedness rules and where rules are undermined is created. Alan currently lives and works in Pemberton NJ.
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