The Art of David Kujda

The Stick Works series is produced through a meticulous process of manipulating thousands of laser-cut acrylic sticks to compose striking forms. There's a gestalt in each piece, where the sticks come together to become something far greater than any single one on its own. These pieces use walls to show themselves while transforming the spaces they occupy. The Stick Works series is meant to provoke introspection and curiosity. I see them as beacons of thought and imagination. 

In this piece,  several waves roll diagonally across the canvas as thousands of sticks come together. The multi-tone palette carries a vibrancy as the waves are uninterrupted by the change in stick colors.

The first piece made from the newly erected studio space, the Black Angel meant to be one of many, is constructed from more than 4,000 sticks. There are seven distinct stick designs, each with a custom angle and an assigned region. The original inspiration was to engrave the names of enslaved people who lost their lives during a devastating part of American history, but the names have been lost. Still, I saw the presence of this image and the fullness of the feathers, as freedom. Thousands of elements coming together as one, resonating as both a symbol of strength and remembrance, a kind of gestalt that carries weight.

The expression of this form can be carried in any color, at any scale, for any space that calls for it. For me, art is the most honest thing I have so when pieces like this come to me I can't ignore it. And while I couldn't bring the names back, the work still needed to be made.

The Twisted Slabs are freestanding sculptures that can be cast in bronze, stainless steel, or cementitious material. There's a sense of momentum in the twisted slabs, and one of their most striking qualities is the way they catch light and shadow. Even under basic warehouse lighting, the forms are beautiful. I was inspired to sculpt something that spoke to a kind of transcendence, where the object carries a sense of motion in ways that metal or rock shouldn't. I think there's a positive message in that, and perhaps a metaphor for breaking free from the grip of restraint. 

Billowed is a freestanding sculpture, roughly 8 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 2 feet tall. The form can be cast in bronze, stainless steel, or finished in classical white plaster. It can also be fabricated as a lightweight ceiling piece, suspended and facing downward. I carved this piece without a plan, following intuition and working up close. I wanted the forms to be wild and flowing, intersecting and colliding in unpredictable ways.