All my life I have felt out of place. It started with being a chubby little kid with glasses and a bowl-cut who was into superheroes and star wars- consequently being made fun of for all of these. Saying I sought to “fit in” would be an overstep, I think what I really did was seek to stand out. My first foray into this was when I decided I did not want to be fat. I self-imposed a diet and exercise routine, and just as I was feeling good in my body, confident to communicate with other humans in hopes they weren’t silently judging me, puberty hit and I was struck with face-scarring acne. Having zero confidence throughout high school, such a formative time for everyone, I retreated into my mind. I sought to excel in art.
As I went onto college I did little else except focus on becoming the best artist I could. Yet again, after graduation, after working so hard toward something, a bigger and different problem presented itself- there is no job market for a kid with a studio degree in drawing. As my friends got jobs and went on trips and began to build homes and families I built an art gallery. The greatest joy of which, was extending the opportunity for my fellow artists to show their work. To help them. After a year I still felt this wasn’t the right thing, this wasn’t “it.”
From that studio in Indianapolis Indiana I have gone on to live in Seattle, help build a brewery, run marathons, climb mountains, backpack throughout Europe with my best friend, build an art gallery and studio in Pike Place Market, become a collected artist of The Getty Museum in Los Angeles, and most recently manifest a dream project which I thought was wildly unrealistic and wholly out of me reach. I’m not ashamed to admit that all of these seemingly accomplished things, is just a little kid trying to figure out where he fits into this world. For every high achievement, there has been an equal low. Poverty, heartbreak, anxiety, failure, depression, these are no strangers to me. The one thing I have always been dependent on through it all is art. I have found ways to take my art to the tops of those mountains, to see me through that heartbreak, to help me through times with no discernible direction. My most recent project Small Drawings High Hopes is no exception.
The project was conceived of in one of my most aimless times. When I felt nothing was in my control. Through it, I traveled a path that has led me here. All of these adventures, all of these highs and lows, perceived triumphs and failures have led me right here. With a desire to reach out to others to let them know I understand how you can feel trapped in your mind. Its where everything goes on. That I understand the pain and fear and doubt that can so easily creep in. My name is Kyle Krauskopf. I am an artist, a vagabond, an adventurer, a deep-thinking ball of emotions and what I want to say to you is- you matter, and you are not alone. Incredible resources such as The National Alliance on Mental Illness exist, people like me exist. We’re here for you. We can get through this together. There is relief. There is a place for you and there are healthy forms of expression and escape. Art is a great place to start.
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Kyle Krauskopf
Co-Founder Atlantis Collective Gallery
Kyle’s Instagram handle is @kylekrauskopf
Check out his website at kylekrauskopf.com
