Physicality is essential to Kennedy Yanko’s sculptural practice. Scouring the urban metal yards and demolition sites of New York City, she seeks out intuitive, physical connections with abandoned materials she can transform in her studio. This process is both intuitive and personal for Yanko, especially when it comes to preparing and adding the paint skins that she adds to her metal forms after welding them.

“The framework supports the skin,” Yanko says, “and the metal becomes the composition that the skin responds to. There’s this play on how they interact and respond to each other. I’m fascinated with paradox, and seeming opposites, when actually they are so dependent on each other. I’m interested in the moment when they come together in that interdependence. One thing can’t exist without the opposing force.”

Artist Biography
Kennedy Yanko (b. 1988, USA) is a Brooklyn-based painter-sculptor whose work incorporates a range of media, including paint and repurposed metal. She studied at the San Francisco Art Institute, and has completed residencies at Leyendecker Gallery (Canary Islands), Fountain Head (Miami, FL), Idiosyncrasy Gallery (New York, NY), Atlantic Center of the Arts (New Smyrna Beach, FL) and The Living Theatre (New York, NY). Recent exhibitions include EXPO Chicago 2018 (with Kavi Gupta), ARCO Madrid, The Aesthetics of Matter at VOLTA, New York, Senses and Perception at Mana Contemporary, Jersey City, NJ, and Projects Miami Beach at the 2017 PULSE Contemporary Art Fair.