Kennedy Yanko facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Kennedy Yanko
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| Born | 1988 (age 36–37) Saint Louis, Missouri, US
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| Occupation | Painter, sculptor, installation artist |
Kennedy Yanko is an American artist born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1988. She is known for creating amazing sculptures and paintings. Kennedy uses unusual materials like "paint skins" and old metal pieces she finds. She takes discarded objects and changes them into new art. Her art often looks abstract, meaning it doesn't show things exactly as they appear.
Her Unique Art
Kennedy Yanko has a special way of making her art. She creates something called "paint skins." To do this, she pours large amounts of paint and lets it dry into a material that looks like a tarp. Then, she sculpts this paint skin, using her whole body to move the heavy sheet of paint. This makes the paint skin a strong material, much like the metal she uses in her sculptures. Sometimes, it's hard to tell the difference between the paint and the metal in her artwork!
In 2023, Kennedy Yanko had a special art show called Kennedy Yanko: Tilted Lift at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit. In 2024, the Pérez Art Museum Miami bought one of her artworks, wild wild country (2023), for its collection of art by Black artists.
In 2025, Kennedy Yanko also had exhibitions at Salon 94 gallery, called Kennedy Yanko: Retro Future, and at James Cohan gallery, called Kennedy Yanko: Epithets.
Art for Everyone
In 2019, Kennedy Yanko created her first public sculpture. This means it was an artwork placed in a public space for everyone to see. The sculpture was called 3 WAYS and was part of an exhibition in New Orleans.
Where She Has Worked
Artists sometimes get invited to special programs called residencies. During a residency, artists can focus on their work in a new place.
- 2021: Artist in Residence at the Rubell Museum in Miami
- 2017: Fountainhead Residency in Miami
Where You Can See Her Art
Kennedy Yanko's artwork is part of many important art collections. This means museums and other places have bought her art to show to the public.
- Brooklyn Abstraction: Four Artists, Four Walls (2022-2025) at The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York
- wild wild country (2023) at Pérez Art Museum Miami, Florida
- The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture, Washington, D.C.
- Rubell Museum, Miami
- Espacio Tacuarí, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- The Bunker Artspace, West Palm Beach, Florida
