Kenny Scharf on the past, present and future of street art

In the 1980s, he became popular in the interdisciplinary art scene of New York’s East Village, along with colleagues such as Keith Haring And Jean-Michel Basquiat— and with Warhol as a mentor —Kenny Scharf was a pioneer of the street art movement, born from the dynamic energy of the city, which he translated into a bold, vibrant visual universe. By combining elements of the cityscape, pop art, graffiti, and cartoon aesthetics, Scharf created a unique, whimsical world of characters that humorously reflected the forces and personalities that animated the streets of New York City, often highlighting the distinct voices of its various neighborhoods. Now, an upcoming exhibition at the Brant Foundation pays tribute to Scharf’s art and style, focusing on how his career is so deeply intertwined with the history and development of New York City.

Co-curator of his longtime supporters Peter M. Brant And Tony Shafrazi In close collaboration with the artist, this major study brings together more than seventy significant works (paintings, sculptures and objects) from the Brant Collection, as well as major loans from private collections and institutions such as the Whitney in New York and the Broad in Los Angeles. Angeles.

The centerpiece of the show is When worlds collide (1984), originally presented at the 1985 Whitney Biennial, is a prime example of Scharf’s enduring surreal, psychedelic style, reflecting the anxieties and uncertainties of a particular historical and social moment with playfulness and humor. Despite his sometimes childish aesthetic, Scharf was always attuned to social and political context, subtly incorporating parodic commentary on American society and its paradoxes that his characters and scenes often embody.

This concept is reflected in works such as George Simpson’s BBQ (1978), where Scharf imagines a typical American cooking hot dogs on a charcoal grill – not in the backyard, but in the bathtub. In another painting from the same year: Barbara Simpson’s new kitchen A QVC-style scene of a woman in a pink kitchen is interrupted by a dragon looking directly at the viewer. Comical and subversive, in these works, as in others, Scharf directly confronts the unfulfilled promises and contradictions of the American Dream and its values.

During the exhibition’s press preview, the Observer spoke with the artist to discuss his artistic journey and views on the past, present and future of street art, especially in our current political and social American landscape.

Is there a central theme that unites the works in this exhibition, and how do they reflect the evolution of your practice?

If you really look at what’s going on in most of these paintings, I would say that the underlying theme that unites them is that as joyful and colorful and fun and festive as the capitalist, consumerist American way of life may seem, it there will always be this elephant. room, and that’s what it does to the ground. We have created a monster that we choose to ignore and look the other way, thinking it will disappear, when in fact all my fears come true when we witness the destruction. It no longer poses an existential threat. It’s happening before our eyes, but most continue to pretend it’s not happening or just brush it under the rug as if it doesn’t matter.

Your work conveys a sense of chaos—“everything exists together”—reflecting the density of urban spaces and the flow of images we are constantly exposed to. How do your works depict or reflect contemporary urban life?

Yes. I often wonder how everything exists at the same time: happiness, peace, joy, death and destruction. We all live on this planet together; everything happens at the same time. I wonder how it is possible that so many different realities can exist at the same time? In recent history, we have been bombarded with a constant stream of images of different realities, but we continue to exist amidst all this noise.

You were active in the East Village scene in the ’80s. What is your relationship with the area today and how do you think it has changed?

New York City, especially downtown, will always be home to me as I, along with all my colleagues, will be a young place of discovery and creative adventure. I have history and memories of almost every street. Like everything, everywhere, everything has changed. I avoid nostalgia and live in the moment, but I am proud and grateful for my history.

As one of the pioneers of street art, how do you view it today? How have you seen it evolve and change?

The whole evolution of street art and graffiti, like hip-hop, has reached a new level internationally. We knew it was exciting in the beginning, but it was hard to imagine how big it would become. It’s amazing to see the influence of that time on the culture of today’s youth. It is global and powerful.

“Kenny Scharfwill open at the Brant Foundation on November 13 and will be on display until February 28.