ARTIST STATEMENT
Deconstruction and reassembly reflect shifting experiences of selfhood, memory, and community. This is the main idea I'm concerned with exploring in my work. Through painting and drawing figures in this manner, I investigate how identity is not fixed, but continuously dissolves, fragments, and rebuilds, especially within shared spaces shaped by music, movement, and social gatherings.
Deconstruction becomes a generative process: by breaking apart the familiar, I create space to reimagine new possibilities for connection and understanding.
Rhythm is a core element of my practice, informed by my background as a DJ. The physicality of sound, the way it moves bodies and creates spatial dynamics, guides my approach to line, color, and composition. Each painting becomes a mix, where gesture mimics movement and the energy of sound is transposed into visual form.
My practice is interdisciplinary by nature, extending beyond the canvas through curatorial projects, collaborative installations and events, and sound-based performances. I view the studio as a space of critical play, where personal inquiry intersects with communal experience and where deconstruction is a necessary act to imagine new pathways forward toward connection, renewal, and collective healing.
BIO
Max Kulchinsky (b. 1997) is a New York City-based artist working across painting, drawing, and DJing. His practice explores themes of connection, rhythm, and collective memory, often engaging with abstracted or deconstructed figures as a means of navigating both personal and shared experiences. Through this lens, Kulchinsky investigates how identity dissolves, rebuilds, and transforms in communal spaces, both real and imagined.
He is currently pursuing an MFA in the Low Residency program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he is expanding conceptual frameworks within his practice and refining a visual language grounded in gesture, color, and narrative fragmentation. He also studies at the Art Students League of New York, where he continues intensive training in figure drawing and painting as both a student and class monitor.
Kulchinsky has exhibited across the United States in solo and group shows, with work held in private collections, and featured in NYC public advertisements. He participated in a two-week artist residency in Tokyo in 2024.
Before transitioning fully to visual art, Kulchinsky worked in the music industry in curation, A&R, and artist management. His background as a DJ and curator deeply informs his approach to visual storytelling, drawing parallels between rhythm, crowd dynamics, and the emotional tenor of shared environments.
He performs regularly as a DJ under the alias musicdj102, with frequent shows in New York City and bookings extending to cities including Tokyo, London, Mexico City, Chicago, and beyond.
All inquires: maxkulchinsky@gmail.com