A conversation with NUKE

NUKE - AKA Nuclear Samurai // NUKE is a project created by Nuclear Samurai with a generally narrower aesthetic tendency towards clean symbolism, video loops, minor glitches aiming at creating emotional resonance. Nuclear Samurai is a digital artist whose work often explores philosophical and existential themes. With a background in photography, formally educated and later working in commercial studios, he transitioned into full-time art practice in late 2024. His work has been featured in international exhibitions and frequently addresses ideas of success, truth, and identity in a post-AI world. He also produces work that reflects on the art world itself and the artists who inhabit it. Often using AI as a tool of inspiration, he combines years of digital design experience with generative processes to create prolific bodies of work that are refined into focused, digestible series. Previous Works include: THE NUCLEAR SAMURAI COLLECTION — A ten-week anthology of stories set in a fictional post-human future. CONSCIOUSNESS — A short film envisioning a post-AI cult called “The New Consciousness.” HELIUM — A post-photographic exploration of youth and identity. BAPTISM — Investigating truth in images in a post-AI world. MEATSCAPES — Existentialist landscapes presented through a meat aesthetic. VOYEUR — An unreleased but foundational project. ONLY WINNERS SURVIVE — A dynamic memecard for 6529’s The Memes, exploring elevation, success, and the divides it creates. X FIGURES — An homage to XCOPY through action figure design.

The Image Between Reality and Artifice

Nuke’s artistic journey began in traditional photography, on sets constructed to look authentic, in interiors lit to mimic domestic dawns.