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 is forthcoming 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.
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Matter of Fact: Material as a Political Act
KAVI GUPTA | WASHINGTON BLVD. FL. 2 25 Apr - 20 Jun 2025These artists explore the politics of materiality, how thread, clay, pigment, and gesture can serve as acts of reclamation, resistance, and cultural continuity.Read more -
Set It Off, curated by Mickalene Thomas, featuring Kennedy Yanko
Parrish Art Museum | Curated by Racquel Chevremont and Mickalene Thomas 22 May - 24 Jul 2022SET IT OFF CURATED BY RACQUEL CHEVREMONT & MICKALENE THOMAS—COLLECTIVELY KNOWN AS DEUX FEMMES NOIRES May 22 - July 24, 2022 LEILAH BABIRYE, TORKWASE DYSON, FEBRUARY JAMES, KARYN OLIVIER, KAMEELAH...Read more -
Kennedy Yanko: Moving Weight
CFHILL, Stockholm, SE 29 Apr - 27 May 2022CFHILL is delighted to present American artist and rising star, Kennedy Yanko, in her first solo exhibition in Scandinavia. Based in Brooklyn, New York, the Missouri native has created a...Read more -
Kennedy Yanko: 2021 Artist in Residence at the Rubell Museum
Rubell Museum, Miami, FL 29 Nov 2021 - 1 Oct 2022Kennedy Yanko is a painter-sculptor and the Rubell Museum’s 2021 Artist-in-Residence. During her residency, Yanko scoured scrapyards in south Florida in search of readymade forms ripe for intervention. Her practice...Read more -
Surface is Only a Material Vehicle for Spirit
Kavi Gupta | 219 N. Elizabeth St. Floor 2, Chicago, IL, 60607 25 Sep 2021 - 7 Jan 2022Kavi Gupta presents Surface is Only a Material Vehicle for Spirit , a group exhibition spotlighting the work of eight dynamic voices within the field of contemporary abstraction, guest curated...Read more -
Kennedy Yanko, HANNAH
Kavi Gupta | 219 N. Elizabeth St., Chicago, IL 20 Sep - 21 Dec 2019Kavi Gupta is pleased to present HANNAH, a solo exhibition of new work by Kennedy Yanko (b. 1988, USA).Read more
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Couch Conversations: Kennedy Yanko and Kimberly Drew
CULTURED October 16, 2020Who is in for a couch conversation with Kennedy Yanko and Kimberly Drew? The former’s Vielmetter exhibition in Los Angeles, 'Salient Queens,' is up now...Read more -
Kennedy Yanko: Our Valence
Webinar May 21, 2020A screening and discussion of a film by Kennedy Yanko in collaboration with Lutfi Janania with performance by Zachary Tye Richardson, curated and moderated by...Read more -
Kennedy Yanko 3 ways
October 18, 2019Kennedy Yanko's inaugural public sculpture installed in the Poydras Corridor of New Orleans, LA. Commissioned by PCSE, funded by the Helis Foundation, supported by the...Read more
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Kennedy Yanko: Humming on Life Exhibitions
Micheal Wolf, White Hot Magazine Of Contemporary Art , April 22, 2023 -
Kennedy Yanko's Mixed-Media Sculptures Exude an Engrossing Sense of Duality
Najma Eno, S/ Magazine, August 4, 2022 -
Racquel Chevremont and Mickalene Thomas “Set It Off”
Ella Martin Gachot, Interview, July 13, 2022 -
At the Parrish Art Museum, Mickalene Thomas and Racquel Chevremont Curate a Group Show That Breaks Through the Noise
Hannah Black, Cultured, June 30, 2022 -
Mickalene Thomas & Kennedy Yanko: Women Artists “Set It Off” at The Parrish
Beth Young, East End Beacon, June 19, 2022 -
The Art Angle Podcast: How Kennedy Yanko Welded Her Way to Art Stardom
Julia Halperin, ArtNet News, June 17, 2022 -
CHANEL Connects: Kennedy Yanko & Honey Dijon
CHANELl Connects, June 10, 2022 -
Mickalene Thomas & Kennedy Yanko: Group Exhibit “Set It Off” Boldly Challenges History, Identity and Artistic Mediums
Kelly Pau, Cool Hunting, June 9, 2022 -
Mickalene Thomas & Kennedy Yanko: Looking For Things to Do? Here’s Where to Go in June (and What to Wear)
Lilah Ramzi, VOGUE, June 3, 2022 -
Mickalene Thomas & Kennedy Yanko: ‘Set It Off’ Brings Six Female Artists Center Stage
Annette Hinkle, 27 East, May 30, 2022 -
Kennedy Yanko is Moving Weight
Alexis Schwartz, L'Officiel, May 19, 2022 -
Mickalene Thomas & Kennedy Yanko: The Personal and the Cultural
Mark Segal, The East Hampton Star, May 19, 2022 -
Mickalene Thomas & Kennedy Yanko: “Set It Off,” from Deux Femmes Noires, at Parrish Art Museum
The New Yorker, May 13, 2022 -
Kennedy Yanko: Editors’ Picks | Stockholm Art Week
Cultbytes, April 27, 2022 -
Mickalene Thomas & Kennedy Yanko: When Being Seen is Not Enough
Lise Ragbir, The Boston Globe, April 24, 2022 -
Kennedy Yanko in conversation with Saskia Neuman
Saskia Neuman, CFHILL, April 20, 2022 -
Kennedy Yanko | To Paint Is To Love, To Love Is To Scrap Metal
Nate Rynaski, Flaunt, August 30, 2021 -
Inside the Studio Where Artist Kennedy Yanko Creates Her Surreal Sculptures
Akili King, Vogue, July 11, 2021 -
‘My Whole Body Is Moving With It’: Artist Kennedy Yanko on the Performative Nature of Making Sculpture
Katie White, Artnet News, June 16, 2021 -
Kennedy Yanko: Postcapitalist Desire
Folasade Ologundudu, The Brooklyn Rail, May 1, 2021 -
Kennedy Yanko’s Sculptures Are a Certain Kind of Woman
Ella Huzenis, Interview Magazine, October 16, 2020 -
Kennedy Yanko’s Abstract Metal Sculptures Take Milan
Elisa Carollo, Art She Says, October 16, 2020 -
Artist Kennedy Yanko on Her Solo Show in Milan, Because it’s in my blood
Suzanne McFayden, All The Pretty Birds, October 16, 2020 -
KENNEDY YANKO EXPLORES SHIFTING IDENTITIES THROUGH REPURPOSED METAL
Caira Moreira-Brown, CultBytes, October 22, 2019
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Art Basel Miami Beach 2021
2 - 4 Dec 2021For Art Basel Miami Beach 2021, Kavi Gupta presents an array of timely and important works by all of the artists represented in our diverse...Read more -
Frieze London 2020
9 - 16 Oct 2020FRIEZE LONDON ONLINE 2020 Kavi Gupta is proud to be part of Frieze London’s 2020 online viewing room. Innovative platforms like this offer us ways...Read more -
Felix Art Fair 2020
13 - 16 Feb 2020Felix LA is the brainchild of art collector Dean Valentine and art dealers Alberto and Mills Morán of LA’s Morán Morán gallery. According to organizers,...Read more -
The Armory Show 2019
7 - 10 Mar 2019Kavi Gupta is thrilled to participate in the 2019 Armory Fair in New York City. Now in its 26th edition, The Armory Fair is a...Read more -
Felix Art Fair 2019
14 - 17 Feb 2019Kavi Gupta is pleased to be among 38 dealers invited to participate in the inaugural Felix LA art fair, which will take place from February...Read more -
Art Basel Miami Beach 2018
6 - 9 Dec 20182018 has been a landmark year for AFRICOBRA (African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists), which was founded in Chicago in 1968 and defined the aesthetic...Read more
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KENNEDY YANKO’S EUROPEAN DEBUT
October 17, 2020All over the world, most art galleries and museums have been shuttered by the COVID-19 Pandemic. But here and there signs of life are popping...Read more -
REFLECTING ON KENNEDY YANKO’S PUBLIC SCULPTURE
September 8, 2020COVID-19 has us all wondering how to fit aesthetic experiences into our quaran-routines. Outdoor art offers the perfect solution. One of the most dynamic public...Read more