Kenney Mencher

Lives and works in Menlo Park, CA

Artist statement

Lately I've become self-directed. I'm working on personal series of paintings and works on paper. I'm not been sure how it will be received, and I'm trying not to care. . . I've been painting single figures for more than a decade. Now my figures are different. Many of the nudes are unvarnished and possibly unflattering self-portraits, in environments, sometimes with another figure. Maybe my collectors won't like them. I don't want to think about that now. These paintings aren't meant to provoke desire so much as empathy. I am making art that is more personal, more autobiographical, but I also hope it deals with the feelings and social situations that others have about aging, our place in the world, and our emotional states. I just spent the better part of the year traveling throughout Europe with the mission of looking at all the art I've been teaching about in my 30 plus years as an art historian. I had an epiphany. Almost all the paintings I visited on my pilgrimage through Europe collections were made for patrons like the church and nobility. Who are my patrons/collectors? Who am I making art for? I was standing in the dim crowded room of Goya's black paintings in the Prado when I was saddened that almost my whole career I've spent wondering and worrying about my audience, especially my collectors. I stopped painting for most of the year before I traveled. When I was in the studio or planning my paintings, I felt like I had collectors peering over my shoulders. When I...

Artwork