Kenny Scharf, Boys and Girls, 2023

Kenny Scharf

Boys and Girls, 2023

Archival pigment print on 290 gsm Entrada Rag paper

Signed dated and numbered 17/100 in graphite pencil on the front

15 × 38 inches

Unframed

Signed and numbered 17/100 in graphite pencil on the front
Archival pigment print on 290 gsm Entrada Rag paper
In 2022, acclaimed Los Angeles-based pop artist Kenny Scharf was honored by the New York Academy of Art at its Tribeca Ball Spring event, where he created a one-off mural for the institution. ⁠Colorful, loud and playful, it featured a medley of his frantic characters swirling one another in his signature palette of vibrant blues and pinks.⁠ Then in 2023, Scharf partnered with the New York Academy of Art to bring the mural to life in a form of a screen print that is an exact replica of the original mural, and is pencil signed and numbered from the edition of 100.
A meteoric figure in his own right, Scharf first arose on the scene in Manhattan’s East Village back in the 1980s, alongside fellow pop artists in Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Whether creating on a wall, canvas or car surface, Scharf’s imaginative style has not aged a day since his formative years — carrying both a childlike curiosity to his approach to color and composition, while still commenting on complex themes, from the threats of war to the climate emergency. “One very important and guiding principle to my work is to reach out beyond the elitist boundaries of fine art and connect to popular culture through my art,” said Scharf.