Skip to main content
Almine Rech

Kenny Scharf Vaxi Nation

Jan 21 — Mar 6, 2021 | Paris, Matignon
For the safety of our visitors and staff, masks must be worn by all visitors upon entrance and hand sanitiser will be provided at the door and throughout the gallery. Inquire about the exhibition: inquiries@alminerech.com The gallery is open from 10 am until 6 pm.

Due to the pandemic, Kenny Scharf will not be present for his second solo show at Almine Rech. However, as he continued to produce art in his Los Angeles studio in the middle of December, he said he was happy with the freshness of his new paintings. “It's always very exciting for me to show work that’s so recent, and even though I can’t be there, the viewers will see how new it is,” he said. Since the early 1980s, Kenny Scharf has been extremely productive and loves working on his art. Without thinking of subject matter ahead of time or restricted narrations, he develops a vocabulary that combines the influence of 1960s cartoons — particularly the Flintstones and the Jetsons — and psychedelic shapes resembling cells, bacteria, or even viruses (an interpretation that seems especially apt at the current time). During his first show at Almine Rech, which took place in September and October 2020 in New York, art critic Linda Yablonsky drew a parallel between the Covid years and the AIDS era. Back then, Kenny Scharf lived with Keith Haring, where Jean-Michel Basquiat often joined them to spend time together. He remembers it as a place of convening energies and a ping-pong game of ideas before the loss of his friends. Faced with tragedy, he decided that he would primarily show the whirlwind aspect of life, filled with bright colors. Whether they are cathartic, extending moments of ecstasy, or expressing gloom, his paintings take on his moods.
 

- Marie Maertens
Décembre 2020

 

Press release

  • read or download in English
  • lire ou télécharger en Français

Selected artworks

  • Kenny Scharf,                                      Infusion, 2020

    Kenny Scharf Infusion, 2020

    Oil and acrylic on line with powder coated aluminum frame
    177.8 x 228.6 cm
    70 x 90 in

  • Kenny Scharf,                                      Ball Z, 2020

    Kenny Scharf Ball Z, 2020

    Oil and spray paint on linen with powder coated aluminum frame
    152.4 x 182.9 cm
    60 x 72 in

  • Kenny Scharf,                                      Freek Z, 2020

    Kenny Scharf Freek Z, 2020

    Spray paint on linen with powder coated aluminum frame
    152.4 x 182.9 cm
    60 x 72 in

  • Kenny Scharf,                                      Tree Peepz, 2020

    Kenny Scharf Tree Peepz, 2020

    Oil and acrylic on linen with powder coated aluminum frame
    152.4 x 121.9 cm
    60 x 48 in

  • Kenny Scharf,                                      S, 2020

    Kenny Scharf S, 2020

    Spray paint on linen with powder coated aluminum frame
    182.9 x 152.4 cm
    72 x 60 in

  • Kenny Scharf,                                      Rouge E, 2020

    Kenny Scharf Rouge E, 2020

    Spray paint on linen with powder coated aluminum frame
    152.4 x 121.9 cm
    60 x 48 in

  • Kenny Scharf,                                      Makro Skopic, 2020

    Kenny Scharf Makro Skopic, 2020

    Oil and spray paint on linen with powder coated aluminum frame
    152.4 x 121.9 cm
    60 x 48 in

  • Kenny Scharf,                                      Quark, 2021

    Kenny Scharf Quark, 2021

    Oil and spray paint on linen with powder coated aluminum frame
    121.9 x 152.4 cm
    48 x 60 in

  • Kenny Scharf,                                      Blitch Blatch, 2021

    Kenny Scharf Blitch Blatch, 2021

    Oil and spray paint on linen with powder coated aluminum frame
    121.9 x 152.4 cm
    48 x 60 in

Videos

  • Kenny Scharf - Vaxi Nation - Almine Rech, Paris - Matignon - January 21 - March 06, 2021

Selected press