Deeply inspired by early Renaissance painting, Alex Kuno (b. 1975) is a contemporary pop surrealist painter based in Minnesota. His studio is located in the historic arts district of Lowertown Saint Paul, and he studied Fine Art at the University of Minnesota.
Prior to becoming a full-time artist, Kuno worked as an art handler and production assistant in several NYC art galleries. In 2022, Alex released his first official concert poster for the band TOOL, an opportunity that quickly elevated his career and collector base.
Arch Enemy Gallery hosts until the 10th of August THE GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS, an absolute wonder of a show and his third solo feature with the gallery.
It can be comforting to think of our lives in THE GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS. Context feels forgiving, perspective can lead to redemption, but with his newest series of ten paintings in oil on linen, Alex Kuno suggests there’s also futility in a ‘big picture’ worldview. It can become a detached shrinking of life’s heaviest—and most beautiful—moments, assuming “we’re all playing a role in some cosmic plan of the universe” that’s out of our control.
“When I set out to work on this series, I wanted the paintings to be about symmetry, order, and timelessness, an exploration of the ‘prospect-refuge’ theory with massive, sweeping landscapes that also provide the audience little places of escape in a world that feels overwhelming. But as I developed these compositions, the real world seeped in…The landscapes began to feel sentient, with their own motives and trajectories, while the figures became transitory at best. Perhaps the show is an exploration of the inability to wrap our heads around the overwhelming ‘bigness’ of the calamities we all face, while maintaining some sort of peace and hope. It’s our lot as humans to never understand the world or our place in it, and in THE GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS, everything is absurd and transitory.” – Alex Kuno
