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About the Work
"Blud 'n Tar" is a spray paint on canvas painting created by Kenny Scharf in 2024. The artwork is signed, titled and dated 'Blud 'n Tar Kenny Scharf '24' on verso. The canvas size is 60 x 72" and the artwork is framed in the artists black frame. The artwork ships framed.
“I feel that I can’t be quiet about my obsessions which have always been our environment and the danger to our fragile ecosystem. I have been making this my main focus pretty much with all of my messaging either blatant in your face or underlying and subtle, but it’s always there.” – Kenny Scharf (Interview with Dan Golden)
Scharf's work consistently embodies his distinctive, self-created visual universe, drawing inspiration from the world around him. His unique style, characterized by vivid colors and surreal imagery, often serves as a commentary on societal and environmental issues. Scharf has long been vocal about his environmental concerns, with his artwork frequently addressing the fragility of our ecosystem. This focus is evident in his messaging, whether overt or subtle, as he highlights the importance of environmental preservation.
One notable example of his dedication to the cause is his artwork "Blud ‘n Tar," which he created for “Art for a Safe and Healthy California.” The event supported the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy California, a coalition of health professionals, environmental justice groups, community and faith leaders, and youth working together to protect Californians from the health hazards associated with living near oil wells.
Scharf's involvement in this initiative demonstrates his ongoing commitment to using his art as a platform for environmental advocacy, highlighting the critical intersection between art and social justice.
"Blud ‘n Tar" is also reminiscent of Scharf’s recent monumental and monochromatic "Graynica, 2022", now in the collection of LACMA.
"Blud ‘n Ta"r features a bold color palette of blood reds and black, symbolizing the severe impact of the oil industry on human health and the environment. The visceral reds evoke the lifeblood of the earth and its inhabitants, tainted and threatened by the encroaching black tar, representing the pervasive and harmful presence of Big Oil. Scharf’s cartoon-like figures, all baring their teeth in various expressions, add an unsettling dimension, representing both the façade of happiness and the lurking threat beneath.
About the Artist
Born in Hollywood, California in 1958, Kenny Scharf lives and works in Los Angeles, California and New York, New York. Kenny Scharf rose to prominence alongside his friends and contemporaries Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring in the East Village art scene of the 1980s. One of the first artists to inject elements of street culture into the mainstream of contemporary art, Scharf has continued to pioneer projects like his Cosmic Cavern—a now legendary all-night DayGlo disco party held in the basement of a Brooklyn warehouse from 2009-2010. His paintings incorporate imagery from advertisements, cartoons, and classic Americana into exuberant compositions with an underlying subversive edge. His work has been included in numerous group exhibitions and he has had solo exhibitions at Pasadena Museum of California Art (2004); Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles (2001); Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (1999); The Dali Museum, St. Petersburg, Florida (1997); University Galleries of Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois (1997); Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico (1996); and Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida (1995) among other locations around the world.
More from Kenny Scharf
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