b. 1958
Kenny Scharf is an American painter from Los Angeles, California. Scharf moved to New York in 1980 to study Fine Art at the School of Visual Arts, where he received a BA in painting. He broke into the city’s interdisciplinary East Village art scene during the 1980s, alongside artists such as Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat. His body of work spans painting, sculpture, fashion, video performance, and street art. References to pop culture are present throughout his work and include fictional humanoid creatures, and cartoon creations referencing the Flintstones and Jetsons. Reflecting the philosophy of Pop art, his work is dedicated to dismantling pre-existing artistic power structures.
His first solo show was at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery in 1982, and he has since exhibited at various international art festivals, including the Whitney Biennial (1985, 1987), Venice Biennale (1984, 1999), and Documenta 8 (1987). His work has also been exhibited in a number of solo shows at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, the Miami Center for the Fine Arts, the Queens Museum of Art, and more.
Some of his most notable works include the series of car paint jobs, KARBOMBZ ! ™, black light and DayGlo painted Cosmic Caverns, his 1980 film The Sparkle End, created with Keith Haring at The Times Square Show, and his collaboration with Dior for their 2020 Men’s Pre-Fall show.
8 min read
Kenny Scharf smokes home-grown Ingleweed and talks life in the East Village
