Kris was born in Poland and educated at the School of Architecture and Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. The visual arts have been his abiding passion since childhood.

After completing his Master's degree, he left Poland to take up a Ford Foundation scholarship in London, England. Two years later he moved to Rome, where he worked as an architect, one of his projects being a new wing for the Vatican Museum. He traveled widely in Europe, drawing and painting, and began to exhibit and sell his work.

He then settled in England, where he established an architectural practice in Henley-on-Thames around 1970 and continued to paint and draw.

In 1976 he moved to Vancouver, where he was principal of an architectural firm until 1996. Since then he has devoted his time entirely to painting. His work has been shown in many galleries in Vancouver and London and featured on CBC Radio and Television.