All 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 up, reminding us of the healing and transformative power of art. One bright spot in this dark time is Kennedy Yanko’s debut European solo exhibition—Because it’s in my blood, on view at Galleria Poggiali in Milan through November 20, 2020.
In Yanko’s latest works, a formal conversation is happening between the heavily bodied metals and the soft, monochromatic paint skins. Each is simple in their form, but each has a different weight. The soft seems to inhabit the hard. Or is the hard protecting the soft, or being invaded by it? Or are they part of the same whole? Beyond the atomic dualities, what’s most important to Yanko are the shadows in the work—the unnoticed spaces between the layers; the discarded, invisible parts that don’t get talked about. The shadows in the work point to the shadow self; they challenge the idea of seeing, or of eyes being the only way to take in knowledge. This work points to a vision beyond what’s seen; vision gained through the full sensory state.
To learn more about Yanko’s new work, check out these three recent interviews with the artist in Interview Magazine, All The Pretty Birds, and Art She Says.
(Featured photo: From the article Kennedy Yanko’s Abstract Metal Sculptures Take Milan, on the Art She Says blog, by Elisa Carollo)
