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Artist-in-Residence

Marcus Kenney

IN STUDIO

Thursday, January 9, 2014 through
Saturday, February 8, 2014

ON EXHIBIT

Thursday, January 9, 2014 through
Saturday, March 8, 2014

PROFILE CIRRICULUM VITAE INTERVIEW

Marcus Kenney

Poverty, alienation, and social injustice are frequent themes in the multimedia works of Georgian painter and sculptor Marcus Kenney. His subjects, both humorous and macabre, suggest Southern Gothic dramas with folksy cross-cultural references.

Kenney’s mixed media paintings and sculptures with found objects are well known and critically acclaimed. His masterful practice of collage techniques and assemblage are hallmarks of his oeuvre. Kenney’s narrative works present a tumultuous clash of imagery reflecting America’s melting pot of culture and consider issues including consumerism, environmentalism, religion, mortality, identity, race relations, and authority. Pictures of children that seem intimately connected to the surrounding wild and lush landscape re-assert Kenney’s deep connection to his own childhood in rural Louisiana and the mystery and mythology of the strangeness, danger, and beauty that were his daily experience of the world. The natural innocence of children in an ever more threatening world blazes out of the shadows in captured moments of play and fanciful imagination. Kenney’s central themes are illustrated with a catalog of imagery that includes children, fire, animals, nature as both sinister and beautiful, connotations of theater and identity (stage/curtains, masks/costumes), and racial juxtapositions.
While in residence, Kenney will paint his interpretation of Bruegel’s Tower of Babel on a large scale 8’x8’ canvas, as well as a few smaller works with the characters and detailed scenes. As a regualr practice, he frequents flea markets, thrift stores, and garage sales to source materials and plans to search San Diego for indigenous ephemera to include in his work.
Originally from rural Louisiana, Marcus Kenney has lived in Savannah, Georgia for the last 15 years. He earned a MFA from the Savannah College Of Art And Design in 1998. His work has been exhibited in New York, London, Miami, Chicago, Atlanta, Hong Kong, Paris, New Orleans, and St Louis. He has been included in numerous group shows, art fairs, and solo exhibitions including a major ten year survey featuring nearly 50 works. His work rests in many private and public collections throughout the world. Kenney has been featured in numerous publications including Art in America, Artpapers, NY Times, South Magazine, Oxford American, New American Painter, Boston Globe, Atlanta Journal Constitution, and New York Arts Magazine.

Solo Exhibitions

2013

“Fallen Animals,” Pinnacle Gallery and Gallery See, SCAD, Savannah and Atlanta, GA.

“Fallen Animals,” Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, New Orleans,LA.

2012

“Art Now: The Work of Marcus Kenney,” Morris Museum Of Art Augusta, GA.

“State of Nature,” Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, New Orleans, LA.

“Underneath the Hope,” Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta Ga.

2011

“State of Nature” 1704 Lincoln Savannah Ga

2010

“Romance 2020” Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta, GA.

“Almanac” Masur Museum of Art, Monroe, LA.

2009

“Yes No Maybe So,” Gallery See and Pei Ling Chin Gallery (SCAD), Atlanta and Savannah, GA.

2008

“Midnight in America,” Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta, GA.

“Midnight in America,” Pulse with Marcia Wood Gallery, New York, NY.

2007

“Topics in American History, Volume I,” Jepson Center for the Arts, Savannah, GA.

“I’m Tempted to Begin With the Ending,” Robert Steele Gallery, New York, NY.

“Young American,” Connelly Jenkins, New Orleans, LA.

2006

“Young American,” Pepper Gallery, Boston, MA.

2005

“Happily Ever After… ,” Marcia Wood Gallery,Atlanta, GA.

2004

“Introductions,” Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, GA.

“Recent Work,” Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta, GA.

Selected Group Exhibitions

2014

“Face to Face, Wall to Wall,” Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, MT.

2013

“Upsodown,” New Art Center, Newton, MA.

“Snapshots,” Gustien Gallery SCAD, Savannah, GA.

“Southern Progressive,” Rebekah Jacob Gallery, Charleston, SC.

“TBD,” Tinney Contemporary, Nashville TN.

2012

“Captured:Specimens in Contemporary Art,” Bedford Gallery, Lesher Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek, CA.

“Texas Contemporary Art Fair,” Jonathan Ferrera Gallery, Houston, TX.

“PULSE Art Fair,” Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, Miami, FL.

“Aqua Art Fair,” Eileen Braziel Art Advisors, Miami, FL.

“Art Greenwich,” Eileen Braziel Art Advisiors, Greenwich, CT.

“Power,” CNN.Com

2011

“9/11 Ripple,” CNN.Com

“Telfair Fashion Show,” DeSoto Hilton, Savannah GA.

“Year of the Rabbit,” Moot Gallery, Hong Kong.

“Spectrum,” SCAD, Savannah GA.

2010

“Painters Reel,” Macon Museum of Art, Jepson Center for the Arts, Morris Museum of Art, Macon, Savannah, Augusta, GA.

“Planet Home,” (SCAD), Savannah, GA.

“Within State Lines II,” MOCA GA, Atlanta GA.

2009

“Mind the Cracks,” Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel.

“Words Become Pictures,” Molloy College, New York, NY.

2008

“This is Us - Chris Scarborough and Marcus Kenney,” TAG, Nashville, TN.

“Crowded,” David Lusk Gallery, Memphis, TN.

“Gen X: Post Boomers of the New South,” Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, AL.

“3-ology,” Prince Tower Art Center, Bartlesville, OK.

2007

“London 07,” Marcia Wood Gallery, London, U.K.

“Profit and Loss,” Sun Valley Center For the Arts, Sun Valley, ID.

“Constructed Images,” Swan Coach House Gallery, Atlanta, GA.

2006

“The New Collage,” Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New York, NY.

“On the Horizon,” Robert Steele Gallery, New York, NY.

“Affair,” Marcia Wood Gallery, Portland, OR.

“Art (212),” Marcia Wood Gallery, New York, NY.

“Recent Work: Marcus Kenney and Julio Garcia,” Iocovozzi Fine Art, Savannah, GA.

“Monster,” Starland Center for the Arts, Savannah, GA.

2005

“South x East,” Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL.

“Children’s Story,” MY ARTS Prospects, New York, NY.

“PULSE Art Fair,” Marcia Wood Gallery, Miami, FL.

“AAF Contemporary Art Fair,” Marcia Wood Gallery, New York, NY.

“Redefined,” Red Gallery, Savannah, GA.

“Marcia Wood Gallery,” Chicago Art Expo, Chicago, IL.

“Recollections,” Pepper Gallery, Boston, MA.

“ArtPapers Auction,” Atlanta, GA.

2004

“G7,” Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, Atlanta, GA.

“Between Light and Dark,” Hartford ArtSpace, Hartford, CT.

“AAF Contemporary Art Fair,” Marcia Wood Gallery, New York, NY.

1. WHAT INSPIRES YOUR WORK?

American culture, Native artifacts, literature, music, nature, dreams, etc..

2. WHO FROM ART HISTORY WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO MEET?

I’ve had the pleasure to meet and dine with Robert Raushenberg. I would love to spend a few hours with Robert Frank. His work has been a big influence on me.

3. IF YOU WEREN’T AN ARTIST, WHAT WOULD YOU BE?

A farmer?

4. TELL US WHAT YOU’LL BE WORKING ON AT LUX.

I intend to create a large version of The Tower of Babel by Bruegel. It is an image I have been fascinated with since my childhood. I love the idea of man trying to reach God with architecture.

5. WHAT IS THE BEST BOOK YOU'VE READ RECENTLY?

One Hundred Years Of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The magical imagery is just amazing and inspiring.