Mike Kuchar

Since the 1960s, Mike Kuchar has been a majorly influential figure in the underground film and comics scenes. Together with his twin brother George, the Kuchars gained cult recognition first in the Bronx and then in San Francisco for their over-the-top, no-budget films that sent up Hollywood epics, weepy romances, and sci-fi B movies. In iconic films like Sins of the Fleshapoids (1965), The Craven Sluck (1967), and Death Quest of the Ju-Ju Cults (1976), Mike developed his distinctive style that jettisoned traditional narrative structure and acting professionalism in favor of extravagant, tender sagas that would have a significant impact on emerging theorizations of camp as an artistic sensibility.

Throughout the 1970s, Mike Kuchar began to support his filmmaking with erotic drawings that graced the pages of gay magazines and erotic comic books like Gay Heart Throbs, Meatmen, and First Hand Magazine. These evocative works evolved to become an integral part of his oeuvre. Kuchar imbues his drawings with a unique combination of gonzo lewdness and uncompromising joy, garnering both underground fandom and critical acclaim.

Mike Kuchar (b. 1942, New York, USA) is an artist and filmmaker who lives and works in San Francisco. His work in film and video has been shown internationally at numerous screenings and festivals, including the Tate Modern, London; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; and the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. His drawings have been in solo and group exhibitions at François Ghebaly; Anton Kern Gallery, New York; Institute of Contemporary Art, London; Jan Kaps, Cologne; and Kimmerich, Berlin. Kuchar was the recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship Award in 2017, an Avant-Garde Masters Grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation in 2012, and a United States Artists Fellowship Award in 2006.