Photo by Philippe Cheng

2024 EXHIBITION

TOTEMIKON

Kenny Scharf
Peter's Pond, LongHouse

TOTEMIKON, by Kenny Scharf, stands tall by Peter’s Pond. Known predominantly for his vibrant paintings, Scharf extends his ingenuity to sculpture, creating distinctive totems like TOTEMIKON.

Kenny Scharf, a Los Angeles native born in 1958, is an established painter and installation artist. Following studies at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, Scharf became a significant part of the East Village art scene during the 1980s. He is associated with the Lowbrow movement, an underground visual art movement that surfaced in Los Angeles in the late 1970s and is celebrated for his work inspired by comic books and pop culture.

Scharf describes himself as a "pop surrealist," utilizing a plethora of techniques, media, and allusions to conjure up hallucinatory worlds inhabited by floating donuts, cartoon characters, and bright-colored, often-anthropomorphic blobs. His works are a dynamic eruption of color, form, and energy. Yet beneath the saturated, seemingly playful forms, sharp teeth lurk, echoing the dual nature of our contemporary society.