Born in San Jose, California, Ed Kucera became a realist figure painter focused on intense, bright colors and subjects that included Spanish and Native American people.

He lived the first ten years of his life on the West Coast and then moved to a Nebraska farm. He worked road construction on Interstate Highway 80 and in 1984 enrolled in the guitar Institute of Technology in Hollywood for a one-year program. He traveled with a band for five years and then met Paulette, his future wife.

From 1989 to 1991, he studied at the Colorado Institute of Art and while there, earned money with fashion illustrations and magazine covers. For several years he earned money with limited edition prints of Indian women. He and his wife, with two young daughters, settled in South Denver where he has a large studio and devotes himself to oil painting, a medium he prefers because of its slow-drying qualities and blending abilities.

He continues to paint western subject matter including Indian portraits and is very admiring of the culture of these people. His paintings each take him about two weeks to complete.

David Edward Kucera was born in San Jose, California. He first displayed his artistic nature at the age of five, after being sent to his room as punishment for a variety of mischievous deeds. As he sat wondering what he could do to pass the time, he noticed a box of colored crayons and four empty walls. One can guess what happened next!

At the age of ten, his family moved to Nebraska, and while most of the kids his age were helping with farm work, he spent most of his time painting and drawing. In high school Kucera was encouraged by his art teacher to pursue a career in art, but this individual decided to focus his life on a career in music, and in 1984, Ed graduated from the Guitar Institute of Technology in Hollywood, California.

Though playing music gave him some fond memories, and some unique traveling experiences, his creative energy eventually led him back to drawing and painting. He enrolled at the Colorado Institute of Art (now the Art Institute of Colorado). There he gained a reputation by winning illustration contests and earning a Merit Scholarship, and in June 1991, he graduated with honors, including Best Portfolio.

After graduation, Ed came to a crossroad and decided to go into a career in fine art instead of the commercial field. His work now is in international and is on display in a U.S. Embassy overseas.

Kucera finds people of the Old West to be visually and spiritually fascinating subject matter. Through a colorfully rich palette, clever composition, and perspective his work comes alive.

Among his recent recognitions is the Award of Excellence received at the Oil Painters of America National Exhibition & Sale in May 2006. In 2007, Ed also won an Award of Excellence for a painting entitled Her Grandson at the Oil Painters of America National Show and Exhibition.

He is a Signature Member of the Oil Painters of America.

David Edward Kucera was born in San Jose, California in 1961. With an artist nature that began very early, Kucera's family was graced with his earliest works on his bedroom walls and household encyclopedia. At the age of ten, his family moved to Nebraska, where he completed school. It was in this quiet farming community that he found art classes to be among his favorite studies.

In 1984, he chose to attend the Musician's Institute in Hollywood, California, where he studied for one year. Focusing on the guitar as his instrument of choice, he toured in a road band for the following year.

He met his wife, Paulette, in Rock Springs, Wyoming in 1986. By mutual agreement, they took turns working to support each other's education. They married in 1988. The following year, Ed Kucera began his formal schooling at the Colorado Institute of Art. In June of 1991, the artist graduated with honors.

Kucera's attention to detail in landscape and color is a result of many hours of fieldwork and study. He intends for his western subjects to come alive with by using brilliant color and sense of light. He loves painting Indians, featuring women and children. His models are dancers from the Ojibwa, Lakota, Blackfoot and other Great Lakes and Plain Indian Nations, who travel the powwow circuit competing in traditional and fancy dances. Kucera documents them in full costume, working as much as possible from life as well as photographs. He captures the dignity, grace, and poise of his subjects and intricate details of dress. His realistic classicism owes much to his study of Caravaggio and to his enormous self-discipline. The detail is tight where Ed wants the focus, and loose in the background into almost abstract.

Ed Kucera has participated in many invitation only shows and is highly collected throughout the United States.