"STRANDED" Works by James Kenney
STRANDED : Works by James Kenney
LOS ANGELES ART EXHIBITION
OPENING : SATURDAY, JUNE 7, 6-9PM AT
THE LANGUAGE MOBILIZATION FACTORY
55 N BALDWIN AVE, SIERRA MADRE, CA
ARTIST STATEMENT. I was born as if my mother were trapped inside my father’s body. She and I were both employees to his corporate veneer. She drank herself into a coma, right before I got the sex-education film in primary school. I reached puberty in the early 1980’s Midwest, where being gay was worthy of beating and ruin. I had just been going along, being a child, and then a switch was flipped and I was completely surrounded by hostile people. At age 10, I felt abruptly, totally, and permanently alone, stranded in my head, panicked against any outward hint of my repugnant secret. It was like floating abandoned in space, during a ruthless asteroid shower. But I wanted beauty, and after all, my family was about keeping up appearances, where famously it was better to look good than to feel good.
“Bullied” seems too light of a term to describe the violence I experienced, and yet over the decades I have witnessed much worse bashings against others. My work is about making protest logos to the abuse, trying to distill its brutal stamp on my being. The obsessive refinement of my current work is in contrast to my darkly psychological punk rebellion. I maintain my front, but still watch my back.
LOS ANGELES ART EXHIBITION
OPENING : SATURDAY, JUNE 7, 6-9PM AT
THE LANGUAGE MOBILIZATION FACTORY
55 N BALDWIN AVE, SIERRA MADRE, CA
ARTIST STATEMENT. I was born as if my mother were trapped inside my father’s body. She and I were both employees to his corporate veneer. She drank herself into a coma, right before I got the sex-education film in primary school. I reached puberty in the early 1980’s Midwest, where being gay was worthy of beating and ruin. I had just been going along, being a child, and then a switch was flipped and I was completely surrounded by hostile people. At age 10, I felt abruptly, totally, and permanently alone, stranded in my head, panicked against any outward hint of my repugnant secret. It was like floating abandoned in space, during a ruthless asteroid shower. But I wanted beauty, and after all, my family was about keeping up appearances, where famously it was better to look good than to feel good.
“Bullied” seems too light of a term to describe the violence I experienced, and yet over the decades I have witnessed much worse bashings against others. My work is about making protest logos to the abuse, trying to distill its brutal stamp on my being. The obsessive refinement of my current work is in contrast to my darkly psychological punk rebellion. I maintain my front, but still watch my back.
STRANDED. Realizing at age 10 that I was gay, I felt stranded in my head. I wanted to be outwardly beautiful, so I began obsessively trying to remove the inner strand of my contamination. Each sculpture is one strand, looping through 3D space defying gravity. They are how I feel. I still daydream, that to pull out the strand would be like a factory reset string, to be again the boy I was, full of promise.
STRANDED 01, 2024. METAL + LATEX, 13 x 10 x 10”.
STRANDED 01, 2025. BIO POLYMER, 10 x 7 x 7”.
Limited Edition of 10 Multiples
Limited Edition of 10 Multiples
STRANDED 02, 2025. BIO POLYMER, 10 x 7 x 8”.
Limited Edition of 10 Multiples
Limited Edition of 10 Multiples
STRANDED : BOULDER 01, 2025
BIO POLYMER, 10 x 7 x 7”.
Limited Edition of 10 Multiples
BIO POLYMER, 10 x 7 x 7”.
Limited Edition of 10 Multiples
STRANDED : BOULDER 02, 2025
BIO POLYMER, 11 x 7 x 8”.
Limited Edition of 10 Multiples
BIO POLYMER, 11 x 7 x 8”.
Limited Edition of 10 Multiples
STRANDED involved a long process of painting and sculptural prototyping. The bench below is made from used stretcher bars and the strands of failed sculptures.
MEMORIAL BENCH TO FAILED ART, 2024. WOOD + METAL + LATEX. 26 X 24 X 30”.
BLACK BOULDER / MIND BLIND. I often want to be as compact and dark and quiet as possible. I have a condition called Aphantasia, wherein, when I close my eyes I cannot imagine. There are no images, only ideas and words in blackness.
BLACK BOULDER / MIND BLIND, 2024. POLYURETHANE, CLAY, RESIN, PAINT. 25 x 15 x 20”.
STRANDED : BOTTLE. Da Vinci dissected skulls looking for the soul. He called it the senso comune, because the inputs for each of the senses crossed there. I often feel stranded in my own head. I try to physically feel the seat of self in my brain – the locus of which might give me a grounding, instead of floating like a man in a bottle.
STRANDED : BOTTLE : SEATED, 2025. BIO POLYMER, ACRYLIC, GLASS. 11.5 x 8 x 6”.
Limited Edition of 10 Multiples
Limited Edition of 10 Multiples
STRANDED : BOTTLE : SPLIT, 2025. BIO POLYMER, ACRYLIC, GLASS. 11.5 x 8 x 6”.
Limited Edition of 10 Multiples
Limited Edition of 10 Multiples
STRANDED : BOTTLE : TINKER 01, 2025. BIO POLYMER, ACRYLIC, GLASS. 11.5 x 8 x 6”.
Limited Edition of 10 Multiples
Limited Edition of 10 Multiples
STRANDED : BOTTLE : TINKER 02, 2025. BIO POLYMER, ACRYLIC, GLASS. 11.5 x 8 x 6”.
Limited Edition of 10 Multiples
Limited Edition of 10 Multiples
OUROBOROS SPIRAL. The snake that ate itself has become two. That which was ground has become figure. Signifier to signified. Natural to nurtured. Are our inner monsters manifestations of the ideas we have consumed? As the two meet, do they kiss?
OUROBOROS SPIRAL : RED & BLUE, 2024, GOUACHE ON BOARD, 10 X 10”.
Limited Edition of 10 Multiples
Limited Edition of 10 Multiples
OUROBOROS SPIRAL : BLACK & WHITE, 2025, GOUACHE ON BOARD, 10 X 10”.
Limited Edition of 10 Multiples
Limited Edition of 10 Multiples
PECKING ORDER. A progression of barbarous mouths gnaw and swallow their snake-eyed kith and kin. Unless, are those birds pecking… exposing a churning universe chomping and burning its own life-fuel?
PECKING ORDER : COLOUR, 2024. ACRYLIC ON BOARD, 10 X 10”.
Limited Edition of 10 Multiples
Limited Edition of 10 Multiples
PECKING ORDER : B&W, 2024. ACRYLIC ON BOARD, 10 X 10”.
Limited Edition of 10 Multiples
Limited Edition of 10 Multiples
CONTRIVANCE. When I realized as a child that I was gay, I began distancing myself from friends – a self-imposed quarantine, to protect everybody and the image of our relationship. I drew alone in my room – stranded. No more arcadian play with friends, because I could not reconcile camaraderie within adult physical boundaries. The boys may appear to embrace, but for me they are pulling apart, rippling ovals from their arms and feet.
CONTRIVANCE, 2025. BIO POLYMER, 8 x 8 x 8”.
Limited Edition of 10 Multiples
Limited Edition of 10 Multiples
SOPHIE’S DAUGHTER, The one given up. 2024, ACRYLIC ON BOARD, 10 X 10”.
CAST OUT, 2024, CLAY, RESIN, ACRYLIC, IRON, 8 x 4 x 6”.
BIOGRAPHY
Jim’s experience includes going behind the BERLIN WALL during the Cold War; having his work shown during THE ACADEMY AWARDS; taking a boat from ST. PETERBURG TO MOSCOW; filming in the middle of a NEO-NAZI RALLY; escorting FAYE DUNAWAY to a premiere at Cannes; and chartering a boat up the CONGO RIVER, famed in Heart of Darkness.
Jim’s work has been exhibited at the SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS BOSTON, THE SAN LUIS OBISPO MUSEUM OF ART, THE ALEXANDRIA MUSEUM OF ART, and at THE WRONG BIENNALE.
Jim has degrees in painting and design, for which he was inducted into the PHI BETA KAPPA Society and given the gold medal by the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), respectively. He taught for thirteen years at the CALIFORNIA COLLEGE OF THE ARTS, where he was an Associate Professor, and has lectured at Stanford and UC Berkeley. He was elected as a Higher Education Leader by ADOBE and appointed to their Partners by Design advisory board.
Jim was a curatorial assistant at the NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART and completed the practical film laboratory fellowship at PIXAR Animation Studios. He was a bug-and-beta-tester for ADOBE, with his name credited in PhotoShop 4.x.
Jim first professionally created title sequences for film and graphics for broadcast projects at IMAGINARY FORCES in Hollywood, 1996. In 1997, he bought Canon’s first mini-DV camera and made his first digital film, This Side Out, edited on a frankensteined mac-clone that could barely output its 6-minute length. The film went on to tour globally at RES-Fest, the first premiere digital film festival. His second film, Ground, was also the selected the next year for the RES-Fest global tour and was featured on their Best of… distribution DVD. Jim’s film work includes three feature-length documentaries and four internationally-screened short films.
He has been honored by publications, festivals and organizations around the world. Film projects to which Jim has contributed have been awarded by prominent international film festivals and organizations, including the SUNDANCE Film Festival and the ACADEMY OF MOTION PICTURES. Jim was a founding board member of REAL IDEAS STUDIO, a non-profit organization which produced films and directed international filmmaking programs, including many years at the CANNES Film Festival. He was also the founder and director of SF SHORTS: The San Francisco International Festival of Short Films, which ran for 17 years.
Jim’s work has been exhibited at the SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS BOSTON, THE SAN LUIS OBISPO MUSEUM OF ART, THE ALEXANDRIA MUSEUM OF ART, and at THE WRONG BIENNALE.
Jim has degrees in painting and design, for which he was inducted into the PHI BETA KAPPA Society and given the gold medal by the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), respectively. He taught for thirteen years at the CALIFORNIA COLLEGE OF THE ARTS, where he was an Associate Professor, and has lectured at Stanford and UC Berkeley. He was elected as a Higher Education Leader by ADOBE and appointed to their Partners by Design advisory board.
Jim was a curatorial assistant at the NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART and completed the practical film laboratory fellowship at PIXAR Animation Studios. He was a bug-and-beta-tester for ADOBE, with his name credited in PhotoShop 4.x.
Jim first professionally created title sequences for film and graphics for broadcast projects at IMAGINARY FORCES in Hollywood, 1996. In 1997, he bought Canon’s first mini-DV camera and made his first digital film, This Side Out, edited on a frankensteined mac-clone that could barely output its 6-minute length. The film went on to tour globally at RES-Fest, the first premiere digital film festival. His second film, Ground, was also the selected the next year for the RES-Fest global tour and was featured on their Best of… distribution DVD. Jim’s film work includes three feature-length documentaries and four internationally-screened short films.
He has been honored by publications, festivals and organizations around the world. Film projects to which Jim has contributed have been awarded by prominent international film festivals and organizations, including the SUNDANCE Film Festival and the ACADEMY OF MOTION PICTURES. Jim was a founding board member of REAL IDEAS STUDIO, a non-profit organization which produced films and directed international filmmaking programs, including many years at the CANNES Film Festival. He was also the founder and director of SF SHORTS: The San Francisco International Festival of Short Films, which ran for 17 years.
STRANDED WAS INITIALLY BASED FROM THE SELF-PORTRAIT ABOVE.