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Q&A With Kenny Scharf!
05 April 2013 by
Kenny Scharf opened his exhibition 'Kolors' last night at Paul Kasmin Gallery. It was a colorful affair complete with a particularly delicious collaboration between Scharf and The Doughnut Plant. Known for his colorful paintings, murals, and close friendships with artists Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat during the East Village art scene of the 1980s, Scharf was one of the first artists to inject street culture into mainstream contemporary art. He continues to incorporate imagery from cartoons and pop culture into his exuberant painting and sculptures. Scharf took some time out of his day to answer a few questions about his work and new exhibition.
Let's start from the beginning. How did you get your start making art?
My earliest memory was finger painting in nursery school. I can remember vividly the excitement I felt and the visuals like it was yesterday.
You're from LA - do you think being from there influences your work?
Growing up in LA definitely influenced my art. I was constantly being bombarded with imagery that spoke of the space age in cars, architecture, and media. The colors and imagery are still fresh in my mind.
Then you came to New York and became friends with Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat. What drew you to each other?
Fate - they were some of my first friends I made immediately upon arrival.
With Keith you made blacklight installations called 'cosmic closets,' which eventually caught the interest of the Whitney, who then asked you to recreate it for their Biennial. How did that come about and what was that like?
Keith and I lived in a decrepit townhouse near Bryant Park - I converted an old large closet into an installation after I came upon a blacklight and began to put items from the street garbage into the room and painted them florescent. It began to grow and became the "closet," and then the "cosmic cavern." It became the site of a lot of fun parties!
A lot of your work prominently features cartoons characters and pop iconography. What about that interests you?
That I own these icons because they are personal to me, yet they are also shared by millions!
You have a series of doughnut paintings. What about doughnuts interests you?
They look good, taste good, yet are bad for you. They have a hole in the middle and resemble the universe. Some scientists think the universe is shaped like a doughnut. They are the ultimate good-to-look-at, bad-for-you consumer object. They're fun to paint.
Through your work you have developed a fully formed world with characters. You've translated this into animation in the past - will you be making more in the future?
I would very much love to make more animation.
You've made a few sculptures: one for your show at Honor Fraser and your sculpture at the Standard Hotel. What is it like seeing your characters move from the 2D realm to 3D?
Ive actually made many sculptures over the past 30 years, but these new ones are different and I think more successful in their bright, colorful, shiny boldness. It is natural for me considering all the paintings incorporate imagery that has a "3D" look.
You often refer to yourself as a customizer and have transformed objects ranging from household appliances to Cadillacs. What about that interests you?
Taking everyday usable objects and turning them into art is a great way of incorporating the everyday task and transforming it into a magical art experience, thereby uplifting the banal into beauty and experience.
Tell me about your collaboration with Kiehl's - what was it like to make over a product as iconic as the Crème de Corps? How was that process?
It was great to work with Kiehl's as they have such a good graphics team - they made it super easy for me!
What are some of your new inspirations and what are you looking forward to?
I am very exited about the present and future. Besides my show opening next week, I am about to make another mural in NYC on Hudson and 14th Street, I'm showing in a "futures" exhibit in the museum in Mobile Alabama in May as well as painting a mural there, and I am also customizing a 70s Pontiac in a new and very exiting way as well as some other fun stuff that I can't mention yet!
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RxArt visits Debra Hampton
07 November 2012 by
RxArt Visits Debra Hampton from RxArt on Vimeo.
Artist Talk is a series in which RxArt visits our favorite artists and collaborators to talk about their work and inspirations.
In this installment of Artist Talk, RxArt went to Brooklyn to visit Debra Hampton at her studio. We spoke about her process, inspirations, and the impact of modern media in her work.
Click below for more photos
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RxArt TV: Will Cotton
09 April 2012 by
Will Cotton from RxArt on Vimeo.
Artist Talk is a series in which RxArt visits our favorite artists and collaborators to talk about their work and inspirations.
In this installment of Artist Talk, RxArt visits painter Will Cotton at his Manhattan studio. We talk about his process, inspirations, and what it was like to work with Katy Perry on her video for "California Gurls"! Click the video to watch!
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RxArt Visits Maurizio Pellegrin
23 February 2012 by
Last Friday, RxArt visited the sunlit studio space of Venetian-born artist Maurizio Pellegrin, who graciously showed us around. During our visit, we got a glimpse of several current projects as well as a fascinating tour of his source materials, which have included vintage top hats, photographs, canes, suitcases, and Japanese obis.
Combining groupings of cultural artifacts and remnants with systems of numerology and textiles, Pellegrin seeks to manipulate and build on the “energy”, or the accrued history, ownership and contextual details, of these personal effects. Much like the city of Rome's construction atop a foundation of Etruscan ruins, Pellegrin's objects become layered with historicity as he uses older items to form his own new visual vocabulary. His site-specific installations have been placed on walls, floors, and furniture in museums and locations throughout the world, including Peggy Guggenheim’s Collection in Venice, mosques and cultural centers throughout Istanbul, the Fort Wayne Museum of Modern Art in Indiana, and the Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art. We'll be featuring more of Pellegrin's studio, work, and discussion with RxArt in an Artist Talk video feature soon.
See below for some shots of Pellegrin's studio and some of the fantastic objects we found there!
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RxArt TV | Artist Talk: Evan Gruzis
02 February 2012 by
Artist Talk | Evan Gruzis from RxArt on Vimeo.
RxArt is excited to announce the launch of RxArt TV, the newest edition to our blog.
For our first installment RxArt went to Brooklyn to visit artist and friend Evan Gruzis at his Red Hook studio.
Thank you to our photographer and camera operator Aileen Son and Andrew Sadoway for his music.
Click Below for more studio shots!
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Artist Talk: Ben Blatt
14 November 2011 by
The first time I saw Ben Blatt's lush watercolor paintings of life within overgrown terrariums, I was struck by his exquisite detail and unique visual vocabulary. Inspired by Indian miniatures, botanical cross sections, and man-made recreations of nature, Blatt creates fantastic worlds reminiscent of lost paradises. I had the great pleasure of asking Ben a few questions about his work and inspirations.
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Artist Talk: Andrew Kuo
08 November 2011 by
When I first saw Andrew Kuo's work, I instantly took a liking to his personal yet universal story-telling. Andrew is known for documenting personal life, emotional experiences and the minutiae of everyday life, translating them into colorful "infographics" that incorporate both image and text. His work brings together his experience as a painter, graphic designer, and art history student, referencing postmodern artists such as Josef Albers and Frank Stella. With titles such as "Some Things I am Scared of in November 2007"; "A Late Hangover On February 17, 2009"; "Being Accused of Being an Asshole (Via Instant Messenger) on June 21, 2009" his work reads like a comprehensive diary that is funny, witty, and insightful. I had a chance to talk to the New York-based designer and artist at his gallery, Taxter and Spengemann.
Your charts are like a diary - very personal and honest, and very relatable. When did you start making them?
Hm - at this point I've been making them for maybe 6 years? Or 7? I could find out but it might be depressing to know.What about the chart format appeals to you?
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It's a way for me to talk about more than one thing at once, literally plotting one idea against the other within the same eyeshot. I wear glasses so I am inclined to be X-, Y- and Z-axis-obsessed. And also, this may sound really weird, but I think about the idea of paint a lot and these charts let me talk about that.
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