Kenny Scharf (b. 1958 in Los Angeles, California) received his BFA in painting from the School of Visual Arts in 1980. In 2013, Scharf created a RxART Project for the Pediatric and Adolescent Psychiatric units at Kings County Hospital. His work is also featured in RxART Coloring Book Between the Lines, Vol. 5.
Originally a street artist who was part of the East Village art scene in the 1980s alongside Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat, Scharf’s art continues to retain the spirit of this medium: “Part of what I do and what I want to do is I want to bring art into the everyday life. If you’re just walking in the street and you’re confronted by something, that might change your day—it might inspire you.” His bright, playful imagery borrows from cartoon influences such as the Flintstones and the Jetsons, which he uses to then form science fiction-inspired, surreal pictures that stimulate and excite the viewer’s imagination.
Scharf’s works have been shown in exhibitions at MoMA PS1 (Queens), the Nassau County Museum of Art, and the Hammer Museum (Los Angeles), and they can also be found in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), the Broad Museum (Los Angeles), and the Bass Museum of Art (Miami). He lives and works in Los Angeles.