Kaitlyn Tucek

With undercurrents of art historical references as well as folk and popular illustration influence, Tucek’s work is a fantasia, charged with a queer and feminine sexual energy.

Always pushing the boundaries between drawing and painting, space and time, surreality and reality, chaos and control, Tucek creates fairy tales for viewers to escape into.

Although primarily a painter, Tucek has created surrealist events such as The Dinner Party in September of 2023, and off-site installations like The Lilac Hour in the Ashcroft Ghost Town outside of Aspen, CO. Tucek often writes poetic narratives to parallel her two dimensional bodies of work. Tucek also engages in installation, textile, sculptural, and video and sound work.

Kaitlyn Tucek lives and works in Denver, CO. From Long Island, NY, Tucek graduated from Pratt Institute in 2006 and was awarded a Master’s from CUNY Queens College in 2013. Tucek’s work has been shown in New York, Denver and Aspen, including exhibits at Leon Gallery, ATC and Alto Gallery. Tucek has been featured in Hyperallergic, The Aspen Times, Westword, Denver Life Magazine, Modern in Denver, CPR’s Denverite, and was named one of Denver’s top 5 artists to watch and collect by 5280 Magazine.

EDUCATION

Master of Science in Education and Art Ed, Queens College, The City University of New York 2013

Graduate Art Education Certification Program, Certified NYS Art Educator, K-12

Bachelor of Fine Arts, Communications Design, Pratt Institute, 2006

Concentration: Illustration
Dean’s List, President’s List, 2002-2006
Society of Illustrators Annual Scholarship

Residencies

2025 Another Gallery, Denver, CO
2023 La Napoule, Mandelieu La Napoule, France
2021-23 Redline Satellite Studio Artist, Denver, CO
2019 Denver Art Museum (paint studio residency), Denver, CO
2018 Firehouse Art Center, Longmont, CO

Grants Awarded

2024 Denver Theater District microgrant
2023 Radical Waves Grant for “The Dinner Party” Boulder, CO

Solo Exhibitions

2023 “The Dinner Party” Boulder, CO
2023 “Mise en Place” K Contemporary, Denver, CO
2022 “We Were All So Very Beautiful” Dateline Gallery, Denver, CO
2022 “Somewhereness” Friend of a Friend, Denver, CO
2021 “The Lilac Hour” Ashcroft Ghost Town, Aspen, CO
2019 “ICE an extension of OVER LOOK”, Wonderbound, Denver, CO
2019 “OVER LOOK” Leon Gallery, Denver, CO
2018 “Won’t You Make Believe With Me?” Firehouse Art Center, Longmont, Colorado
2018 “It’s All Coming Apart” ATC DEN, Denver, CO
2017 “An American Landscape” Alto Gallery, Denver, CO
2017 “Studies for: It’s All Coming Apart” Relevant Goods, Denver, CO
2015 “Emergence” Anthology Fine Art, Denver, CO

Group Exhibitions

2025 “Bodies and Power” Pirate Contemporary, Denver, CO
2024 “Curious Realms” Dairy Arts Center, Boulder, CO
2024 “Summer Show” K Contemporary, Denver, CO
2024 “PPL I’ve Met on the Internet” Spc13, Denver, CO
2024 “The Dog Show” Bell Projects, Denver, CO
2024 “The Mudd Club” Lane Meyer Projects, Denver, CO
2024 “MAGPIES” Colorado Women’s Art Museum, Denver, CO
2023 “Portrait Gallery” Dairy Arts Center, Boulder, CO
2023 “Drawn: From the Source” Arvada Center, Arvada CO
2023 “Fucking Flowers” K Contemporary, Denver CO
2022 “Ends + Beginnings” Alto Gallery, Denver CO
2022 “The Yellow Show” Dateline Gallery, Denver, CO
2022 “The Sky is Sometimes Pink” Bell Projects, Denver, CO
2020 “MOP” Lakewood Cultural Center, Lakewood, CO
2020 “Dearly Disillusioned, Reminiscing Declarations” McNichols, Denver, CO
2019 “ Mothers, Fathers, Sons and Daughters” Dairy Arts Center, Boulder, CO
2018 “Tedious, A Performance” Understudy, Denver, CO
2018 “A Breath Before” Alto Gallery, Denver, CO
2018 “Thread/Bare” Recreative, Denver, CO
2018 “Alter Salon No. 1” Shorts at Zuni 49 Studios, Denver, CO
2017 “Borderline” Artworks Loveland Contemporary Art Center, Loveland, CO
2017 “Juried show- Jessica Kooiman Parker”, Redline Contemporary Art, Denver, CO
2016 “Juried Show -Dean Sobel”, Pirate Contemporary Art, Denver, CO
2016 “Icebreaker 7”, Ice Cube Gallery, Denver, CO
2015 “Mark Making” Firehouse Art Center, Longmont, CO
2007 “Go Icarus!” The White Room, Williamsburg, Brooklyn NY
2003 “Location” The Ballet Studio, Smithtown, NY
2002 “Young Artists at the Heckscher Museum” Huntington, NY

Art Fairs

2023, Intersect Palm Springs, CA

Murals

2019 Hilton Garden Inn, Denver, CO
2018 Alto Gallery, Denver, CO
2016 “Exterior Wall Collaboration, Blue Moon Brewery”, Denver, CO

Press/Publications

The Denver Post, May 2024
Nice Matin, November 2023
The Aspen Times, September 2021 (front page)
Colorado Public Radio, September 2021
Westword, September 2021
Denverite, March 2020
Denver Life Magazine, March 2020
Denverite, January 2020
Westword, September 2019
Urban Life Wash Park, January 2019
5280 Home, September 2018
Urban Life Wash Park, July 2018
Hyperallergic, Intricate Artworks Show a Mother’s Pain and Persistence, March 2018
Cherry Creek Lifestyle, March 2018
303 Magazine, February 2018
Westword, October 2017
Modern in Denver Magazine, January 2016
Westword, Twenty-Five Best New Murals Painted in Colorado in 2016
NUMiNOUS Magazine, Elemental Issue, March 2016

WORKSHOPS AND TALKS

Clyfford Still Museum, Denver, CO
Denver Art Museum, Denver CO
ArtGym, Denver, CO
K Contemporary, Denver, CO
Dairy Arts Center, Boulder CO
Leon Gallery, Denver, CO
Alto Gallery, Denver, CO
Redline Contemporary Art Center, Denver, CO
Loveland Art Center, Loveland, CO
Clyfford Still Museum, Denver, CO
Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, Lakewood, CO
Ashcroft Ghost Town, Aspen, CO

Contact

kaitlyn.tucek@gmail.com

631-371-1120