Kennedy Yanko USA, b. 1988

Kennedy Yanko is a sculptor and installation artist working in found metal and paint skin. Yanko deploys her materials in ways that explore the limitations of optic vision, underlining the opportunities we miss when looking with eyes alone. Her methods reflect a dual abstract expressionist-surrealist approach that centers the seen and unseen factors that affect, contribute to, and moderate human experience.

A solo exhibition of Yanko’s work was shown in 2023 at The Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA. Other recent exhibitions include Set It Off, Curated by Mickalene Thomas & Racquel Chevremont, The Parrish Museum, Water Mill, NY; as well as exhibitions at the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY; the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (Parallels and Peripheries, curated by Larry Ossei-Mensah); and University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum (Life During WarTime, curated by Christian Viveros-Faune). Yanko’s work is included in the collections of Bunker Artspace, West Palm Beach (Beth Rudin DeWoody), Espacio Tacuari, Buenos Aires (Juan Vergez and Patricia Pearson), and the Rubell Museum of Art, Miami (Don and Mera Rubell), among many others. The 2021 Artist in Residence at the Rubell Museum of Art in 2021, Yanko was named Art Forum’s “Critic’s Pick” in 2019 and was featured in 100 Sculptors of Tomorrow, published by Thames & Hudson.