Nika Kuk came into the world in Moscow, to be more precise, at the Maternity Hospital Number 7, known as the ‘Grauerman’ on New Arbat. In the heavens above, a roaring Leo made way for Virgo, while on the ground, Gladioli and Flox were in bloom and there were watermelons to be had from Astrakhan.
As a child, Nika dreamed that one day she would be an ice-cream seller, or become a vet, or a biologist and as well as that – an artist and a cosmonaut. As a blooming young girl she kissed frogs among the jars of formalin in the Department of Biology at the Lomonossov State University and awaited the arrival of a Prince. She made drawings of the classic perfection of ‘David’ and the lines and creases of naked old ladies in life classes. She took part in archaeological expeditions and reconstructed ancient artifacts. Nika has not yet managed to get to Cape Canaveral, but some of her childhood dreams have become reality.
The artist Nika works with themes from Mythology and Embryology. Through numerous zoological investigations into Mythology she has created her very own Bestiary. And her collection, ‘Nika Kuk’s Chamber of Marvels’ can be interpreted as a refinement of what she found among the formalin filled jars of the University Biological Institute.
