Buddha became the enlightened one, under a Bodhi tree.
This is the name taken by native Pittsburgh artist who tragically passed much too soon, the day before Thanksgiving in 1991. If you graduated from Perry High School, Pittsburgh Public Schools, class of 1968, you knew him as Charles Kuklis. An incredibly talented artist, he was always sketching and drawing.
Recently there was an article by Joe Smydo in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about what to do with an artist’s work after they’ve died.
Bodhi Wind painted the murals for Robert Altman’s 1977 film 3 Women. (Click here to read about the movie and see a photo of Sissy Spacek and Shelly Duvall and one of the large murals painted by Bodhi Wind.) He designed clothing for Cher and his work was shown in Architectural Digest May 1978. An archived article in the NY TimesApril 26, 1977 by Jennifer Dunning is online.
A blog by Angeliska shows more photographs of Bodhi painting the murals for 3 Women. We read on this blog that his mother, Jean Kuklis (also mentioned in the PPG article) would welcome speaking of her son and his art.
I had the good fortune to meet Mrs. Kuklis, her daughter and granddaughter, Monday afternoon and got to photograph some of Bodhi Wind’s artwork. His mother generously shared his story and creative artwork and I wanted to share it with you. I had the privilege of seeing pieces he created in high school, too.
She hopes her son’s art could be shown in a large space, a bank, hotel lobby or convention center. Some of the painted panels are big.
Many are painted on wood and interestingly framed.
Readers who would like more information about the artworks should email Bodhi Wind’s family Bodhi.Wind.Art(at)gmail.com.
detail from the Octagonal
This is one panel of a series. Very large. It needs to be turned right side up. I left a bit of his sister in the pic on the right so you get the idea of the scale.
