Artist Of The Month For March 2022: Ruben Cukier
Ruben Cukier. Sleep, Wakefulness And Death.Seeped in surrealism, Ruben Cukier’s works explore the essential dilemma of existence through highly stylized, caricature-like figures that evoke a world of absurd fantasy and fragile reality. Considered one of the most influential proponents of the bio-constructionist movement that has its roots in classical Surrealism, Ruben Cukier was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1964. The politically charged, turbulent, and chaotic atmosphere of Buenos Aires had a tremendous impact on Cukier’s artistic idiom.
Colours play a significant role in Ruben Cukier’s visual vocabulary. One sees bright, stark colours in his works that make the subject/figure stand out and give a rather dramatic impact to these caricature-like figures which seem to have come straight off from a somewhat morbid and grotesque version of a fairytale-like world. He deliberately chooses shades and colours that symbolise a yearning for a less complicated, less superficial reality.
Ruben Cukier. Castas.
Ruben Cukier. Mother Unnatural.Cukier’s works are also fairly humorous. In his paintings, humour becomes a trope that satirises and exposes fears, desires, and habits routinely suppressed both by the individual conscience and collective consciousness of the society. Reminiscent of Rene Magritte, the surrealism undertakes a different discourse that is personal and emerges from his experiences and surroundings.
Cukier’s works have been exhibited at many solo and group exhibitions across the world in places such as Portugal, France, Argentina, the U.K., Israel, Germany, and Italy. His artworks are also a part of many prestigious private collections around the world in countries like Israel, the United States, Australia, and Canada.