Kenny Scharf Honored in East Hampton

On Saturday, July 20, Kenny Scharf (b.1958) was honored by the LongHouse Reserve art center in East Hampton, New York. “We are recognizing Kenny Scharf for his contributions to culture and his celebration of comics, amusement, and the underground.” said LongHouse Director Carrie Rebora Barratt.

 

Scharf's works were inspired by his California childhood memories of The Flintstones, The Jetsons, and other Saturday morning cartoons and the advent of color television. He moved to New York, attended the School of Visual Arts and became an integral part of the East Village graffiti art scene with Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat who were inspired by the work of Andy Warhol. “He gave us so much, and we gave him admiration in return,” said Scharf of Warhol. “There’s nothing like having a bunch of us whippersnappers running around you, worshipping you.”

 

 

What has always been important to Scharf is creating art that can be enjoyed in everyday life. He bridged the gap between graffiti, which landed artists in jail in the ‘80s, to legitimizing street art, like the murals seen in towns and cities around the world today.

 

Scharf’s images have been used by Dior, for its mens clothing line, on Samsonite luggage, on Crocs and on cars (he calls them Karbombz) around L.A., where he lives and works. He even spread cheer during the pandemic by putting his signature cosmic cartoon characters on face masks.

 

Scharf has been married to his wife, Tereza, since 1983. The couple has two daughters and grandchildren.

 

Kenny Scharf currently has a solo show at the Honor Fraser Gallery in Los Angeles. Kenny Scharf - Go Wild! will be on view through August 24, 2024.

 

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 Paris is certainly an exciting city to be in right now, but the Summer Olympic games are not the only fascinating things to see; the Foundation Louis Vuitton has an exhibit of art and sport-related works on its top floor, but the really dynamic exhibits are two shows that feature the works of Henri Matisse (1869-1954) and Ellsworth Kelly (1923-2015).

 

 

Although Matisse and Kelly’s styles differ, both artists were masters of color and form and created a sense of pleasured joy in to their paintings.

Both Matisse: The Red Studio and Ellsworth Kelly: Shapes and Colors, 1949–1954 are on view until September 9, 2024.

 

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August 7, 2024