Kenny Scharf was born in 1958 in Hollywood, California. The artist received his BFA in 1980 at the School of Visual Arts located in New York City. Scharf’s works consist of popular culture-based shows with made-up science-related backgrounds. Scharf uses popular images that he grew up watching, such as the Flintstones and the Jetsons. Scharf uses cartoon images in his artwork to bring popular culture into the fine arts. Scharf wants to see how far he can push the line between high and low art. Scharf, to this day, is doing artwork that makes the viewers think about where the line is and how far the artist has pushed it.

“My ambition as a professional artist is to maintain the course that I set nearly 30 years ago by establishing my work in the fields of painting, sculpture, and performance. Every project I undertake builds on my past experiences. My original approach is unchanged; it is a personal challenge to produce the best work possible every time. One important guiding principle to my work is to reach out beyond the elitist boundaries of fine art and connect to popular culture through my art. 

My ambition has always been to live the example. I believe the artist has a social responsibility to engage others in a thought process that ultimately brings art into everyday life, thereby enhancing the quality of our experience.” -Kenny Scharf.