ARTIST SPOTLIGHT // Nick Kuszyk's Robots: From Street Art To Children's Books

If you walk around Williamsburg much, there's a good chance you've strolled passed Nick Kuszyk's robots. The Brooklyn-based artist has been painting them for over a decade, filling entire walls (and often more) with these brightly-colored mechanical creatures. Kuszyk's work hasn't just been limited to the streets. His canvases are equally awe-inspiring--his colorful robots can be found on album covers for the No BS Brass Band, decorating an arcade case for DIY video game makers Babycastles and even in a children's book named R Robot Saves Lunch, which Kuszyk wrote and illustrated.

We caught up with Kuszyk to ask him about his work. He enjoys the balance between doing large murals and smaller paintings. "Both help life in different ways," he says. As for his influences, he tells us that there are too many to list, but they include fifteenth century European painters Hieronymus Bosch and Jan van Eyck as well as modern geometric abstractionist Josef Albers.

How did he end up publishing a children's book? Kuszyk says it was a fluke. "The president of Penguin's kids books is into pilates, and my friend is a teacher [and] dropped my name," he explains. Chance or not, his skill and style have led to many other opportunities as well. Right now some of Kuszyk's work is being featured in an exhibit at Oklahoma City's Womb Gallery, where he got to work with The Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne, who co-owns the space; "[Coyne's] a sleeper visual artist and a generally inspiring person," Kuszyk says.

As of today, Kusyk's at work on another album cover, several commissions as well as a graphic novel.

We've got more of Kuszyk's work after the jump, so keep going--and keep your eyes peeled for his murals the next time you hit the streets.

-- John Ruscher