Zoltaire by Kenny Scharf

Zoltaire by Kenny Scharf

Kenny Scharf, born 1958, is a painter and installation artist best known for work inspired by comic books and pop culture. Born in Los Angeles, CA, he studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and became part of the East Village art scene during the 1980s.

Scharf’s work features aliens and retro cartoon characters often set in post-apocalyptic scenes. Scharf cuts through any ominous elements with his expressive characters and bright color palettes. Along with collaborators like Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat, Scharf sought to bypass the elitist boundaries of the fine art world and bring creativity to everyday life. He has remained a prevalent figure throughout the decades, bringing his airbrushed figures and out-of-this-world elements to the streets and beyond.

Scharf’s subjects range from recognizable characters like Judy Jetson to amorphous blobs that look straight out of a lava lamp. He describes his figures as mirrors of the human experience saying, “These are a lot about relationships and how people can be together, coexisting, but very different. There’s a lot of metaphors you can make up for these pieces. They all change.” Scharf’s abstract and futuristic scenes resemble a world closer to a science fiction novel than the one we know today. While he brings the viewer farther from Earth, there’s an obscure familiarity in the faces and worlds he creates.

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