Alchemy of Sleep
Alchemy of Sleep is painted in oil with gold and silver leaf by Brad Kunkle, and sits in a private collection; a small study for it, in oil and gold leaf only, rests in his archive, also privately owned.
The metal leaf is the painting's moving part: it shifts with the light, so a viewer crossing the room or dimming the lamps changes the picture as they move, an effect Kunkle describes as the painting and its viewer affecting each other.
Brad Kunkle
Brad Kunkle is an American painter, born in Lehighton, Pennsylvania in 1978, who came to gilding by leafing whole walls in copper as a decorative painter and now works in oil with gold and silver leaf. His debut New York solo show sold out on opening night in 2010, he is represented by Arcadia Contemporary in New York and Pontone Gallery in London, and in 2025 he won a RAYMAR Painting Award at the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize.
@bradrkunkle.
The picture comes from this post on Instagram.
Researched August 2026. I credit each piece as carefully as I can; if you know more about this one, message me on Instagram.