Photo by Tariq Stone, @tjastone

NIKU RADAN is a multimedia artist who’s spent the better half of the last decade satirizing the human condition using a unique blend of body horror and humor. She studied traditional visual art at the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts and holds a B.A. in Broadcasting, with an emphasis in Television Writing, from SF State University.

Having been trained as a painter and screenwriter, Niku expanded her artistic reach by utilizing forms like trading cards, short form video, poems, music, books, leaves, makeup, blogs, and zines. She’s had her writing published by magazines like Writer’s Block, had her skits shown at events like Cooper Union’s Electric Carnival, and had her comic featured in Cowlick Comics 7. She also recently earned a bookbinders’ certificate from the SF Center for the Book.

Niku’s currently focused on writing and illustrating a comic about her character, an ornery popstar named Goulash. She uses the character as a tool for critically examining celebrity culture while exploring the ugly everyday feelings we keep to ourselves. She’d like to get a nice job, incorporate more performance into her future work, and make art ‘til she’s old. She gets stressed out trying to pick a favorite color, loves everybody, and hates nothing.