Born in 1988 in St. Louis, MO. Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
Kennedy Yanko is a sculptor who searches salvage yards for cast-off materials–such as copper, marble, and tin–that she then combines with paint skins. These skins, her signature medium, allow her to use paint not only for its color, but as a structural material; they imbue her sculptures with vivid hues, organic shapes, and smooth textures, and stand in contrast to the industrial, manufactured components with which they are joined.
Kennedy Yanko attended the San Francisco Art Institute in San Francisco, California. Yanko has been included in numerous acclaimed exhibitions including Alchemy, curated by Elizabeth Ferrer and Jenny Gerow at BRIC in Brooklyn; The Aesthetics of Matter, curated by Mickalene Thomas and Racquel Chevremont at VOLTA, New York; and Hidden in Plain Site, curated by Derrick Adams at Jenkins Johnson Projects. Yanko has been awarded with artist residencies including Fountain Head in Miami, Florida and Atlantic Center for the Arts studying with Rick Lowe in New Symna Beach, Florida. Her work has been featured or reviewed in Hyperallergic, Vice, Artcritical, Galerie Magazine, the Observer, and ArteFuse.
Kennedy Yanko and her partner Rasaan Bonair teach a lesson using found objects during quarantine. Enjoy!
Featured in ARTnews:
“Artist Kennedy Yanko Wants to Teach Your Children How to Make Art During Quarantine”
April 8, 2020
