Inner And Outer Space by Kenny Scharf

The latest exhibition to go on display at Leila Heller Gallery is ‘Inner and Outer Space’ by Kenny Scharf, and it is the American artist’s first solo show here in the UAE. This muralist, painter, sculptor and installation artist is best known for his fantastical, large-scale paintings of anthropomorphic animals and imagined creatures as well as sculptures of televisions and found objects.

Although the artworks of Kenny Scharf might appear light-hearted, optimistic, even joyful at times, underneath they hide deeper meanings, darker thoughts, all simply reflecting a part of our reality. He categorizes his art as ‘pop surrealism’, drawing inspiration from the realm of the unconscious, explaining that his own unconscious is full of pop imagery. He cites surrealism and abstract expressionism as his major influences.

That might not come as news anymore, as he has been around for more than three decades now, having started his career at a time when figurative expression was at its peak on the streets. Alongside Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat, Kenny Scharf used the expression of emotion of art to create memorable pieces. A nice selection of these, including large-scale works as well as relief sculptures comprised of oil-painted televisions and small assemblages of found objects have now had their debut in the United Arab Emirates, courtesy Leila Heller Gallery.

This new body of work is a reaction to what Scharf perceives as an “increasingly out-of-control situation”, represented by the melting faces in his paintings; Scharf’s work continues to echo his infinite optimism and his sense of humour but has always been engaged with insightful issues beneath the facade. The capitalist excess and environment have long been central themes; more recently, his paintings reflect his environmental concerns over the petroleum industry. Another great facet of Kenny Scharf’s oeuvre, both in quality and size, is his quest for discarded and found objects. At Leila Heller Gallery, we have two examples of assembled art: Assemblage Vivant Tableaux Plastiques and TV Bax, for which he put plastic backs of old television sets together. These discarded toys and television backs are considered poignant objects, resonant with emotion. “Each of these objects carries a story,” Scharf explains. He considers how people may have sacrificed and struggled to buy these toys and TVs, and the intense relationships that children and families have with them. Scharf brings to life these inanimate objects in his work.

Always revealing more visual information and never lacking in brilliance, the art of Kenny Scharf induce a certain state of mind, one slightly obsessed with the world around it. As many influences converge into a single vision, we get familiar pieces that call for a two-fold contemplation. Fusing high art and cartoon, technological aspiration and ecological devastation, he creates playful works of art that evoke a state of dream.