Classroom use of the art print.

Classroom use of the art print. Kenny Scharf Kenny Scharf (born in 1958, in Hollywood, California) is an American painter.The artist received his B.F.A 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. (American; b. 1958). Dawn in Paradise, 1985. Oil andcanvas with acrylic painted frame, 92.5" x 123". privatecollection THINGS TO KNOW Kenny Scharf was born in Southern California in 1958, the son ofEastern European immigrants. Scharf cites Los Angeles Los Angeles(lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. architecture andtelevision, especially animated cartoons, as early influences. He alsorecalls being fascinated by the family's Time-Life book series onscience and the natural world. At age 15, the family moved to BeverlyHills Beverly Hills,city (1990 pop. 31,971), Los Angeles co., S Calif., completely surrounded by the city of Los Angeles; inc. 1914. The largely residential city is home to many motion-picture and television personalities. . While in high school, Kenny excelled at art and took advantage ofthe school's seemingly endless supply of art materials Techniques and materials related to art:Traditional techniques: Acrylic paint Charcoal Clay Collage Drawing Fresco Glass Gouache Gum arabic Lithography Oil painting Oil pastel Paint Painting Pen and ink . Upongraduation, he enrolled in the University of California, Santa Barbara HistoryThe predecessor to UCSB, Santa Barbara State College, focused on teacher training, industrial arts, home economics, and foreign languages. Intense lobbying by an interest group in the City of Santa Barbara led by Thomas Storke and Pearl Chase persuaded the State .After two years, he moved to New York City New York City:see New York, city. New York CityCity (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. and continued studying art atthe School of the Visual Arts. While in New York New York, state, United StatesNew York,Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , Scharf met fellow student Keith Haring Keith Haring (May 4, 1958 – February 16, 1990) was a pre-eminent artist and social activist whose work responded to the New York street culture of the 1980s.He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania but grew up in Kutztown and was interested in art from an early age. . Haringwould become famous for his graffiti images made in the subways of NewYork City. Scharf and Haring had similar artistic sensibilities. Of thistime, he has said, "I would say I was a street artist quicker thatI would say I was a graffiti artist. The reason why we [Hating andothers] did art in the street is that art had nothing to do with whatwas happening in people's lives ... but seeing things Seeing Things may refer to: Hallucinations where someone sees things that are not actually present Seeing Things (poetry), a collection of poems published by Seamus Heaney in 1991. Seeing Things (TV series), a Canadian television series which aired in the 1980s. in the streetgets people to think differently, it inspires them." During college, Scharf also did performance art, installations andenvironments (closet spaces decorated in intense color, black light, andcast-off and space aged-styled objects), and customized objects, such asblenders and televisions. His customized pieces were made under thepseudonym Van Chrome. His most famous customized object is a 1961Cadillac called Suprema Ultima Deluxa (1984). Sharf drove the car fromNew York City to Los Angeles, customized it, and then exhibited it atthe Larry Gagosian Gallery. The following year Scharf's painting,When Worlds Collide (1984), was included in the Whitney Biennial in NewYork City. Scharf's early paintings are strongly influenced by HannaBarbera cartoons, such as The Jetsons and The Flintstones. His style isoften called cartoonish, childlike and fun, although it often changes:"People get confused because they think of the cartoony faces Ioften paint, but if you look at everything I've done over the past30 years, I'm like a television child, I make channel changes,stylistically. And that is what confuses people. They know me for thecartoon channel. But when they look at the whole body of work, they willsee that." As is seen in this month's art print, Scharf'scolor palette is bold, intense and saturated. In addition to color, hisiconography is predominantly based on biomorphic forms and dreamlikevistas and scenery. Kenny Scharf is often described as a "pop surrealist," aterm he coined. The moniker (1) A name, title or alias. See alias.(2) A COM object that is used to create instances of other objects. Monikers save programmers time when coding various types of COM-based functions such as linking one document to another (OLE). See COM and OLE. is appropriate, as both Andy Warhol andSalvador Dali were early influences on Scharf's artisticsensibilities. In the early 1990s, Scharf, his wife and daughters moved to Miami,Fla. A few years later, they moved to Los Angeles and Scharf began workon an original cartoon series for television. He continues to live andwork in Los Angeles. His work is included in numerous museums andprivate collections all over the world. THINGS TO DO ** Primary. Share the art print and title with students and askthem for their own personal definitions of the word paradise. Talk aboutwhat happens at dawn and how the artist depicts this time of day in hispainting. Explain to students that this artist often adds cartoon-likefaces in his work, such as the face seen on the purple cloud. Discuss how certain elements of the painting seem to be moving,such as the trees. Ask students if they can find any other elements of aface on the picture (tree on the left). Discuss the word"landscape," and explain how this picture, although veryplayful and cartoon-like, is part of a larger tradition of landscapepainting. Give students an opportunity to create a landscape painting thatdepicts the sunrise. Students should try to incorporate some of theelements of Dawn in Paradise, such as bold color, plants and objectswith faces, and curving lines that suggest movement. To add a literacy component to this activity, ask students to offeradjectives that describe the picture. Using these words, create a classpoem about the picture, or encourage students to use some of the wordsto title their original artwork. Display the poem along with originalstudent work. ** Elementary. Scharf's early work borrowed images fromtelevision cartoons that he watched as a child. Over time, he developedoriginal imagery inspired by television animation of 1960s and'70s. Use the art print and students' interest in animatedcartoons, comic books and graphic novels to create original worksinfluenced by contemporary imagery. To begin, display the art print andask students to describe how it looks and feels like a cartoon (boldcolors, human-like plants, playful environment). Explain to studentsthat they will be creating an original painting that incorporatespopular cartoon imagery from their own lives. Give students plenty oftime to sketch and design their compositions. Provide comic books,graphic novels and time online to research contemporary cartoon imagery.Display the art print and the finished work in a classroom gallery.Invite other classes to an "opening" to view student work. ** Middle School. Kenny Scharf's imagery relies heavily onbiomorphic, organically shaped figures. Display the art print and pointout examples of biomorphic forms. Have students brainstorm otherexamples of biomorphic shapes (amoebas, jellyfish, moss and lichen lichen(lī`kən), usually slow-growing organism of simple structure, composed of fungi (see Fungi) and photosynthetic green algae or cyanobacteria living together in a symbiotic relationship and resulting in a structure that resembles neither ,etc.). Do a Web search of additional Scharf images from the 1980s andshow them to students on a Smartboard or overhead transparency. Askstudents to identify additional examples of organic shapes. Afterstudents are familiarized with the concept, provide time for them tocreate a realistic or abstract drawing that is predominantly populatedwith biomorphic shapes and forms. ** High School. Copy "About the Artist" from "ArtNotes" and give students time to read about the life and work ofKenny Scharf. Display the art print and lead a discussion about theimage. Next, place students in groups of three or four and assign eachgroup a period from Scharf's career (1970s, 1980s, 1990s,2000-present) on which to do a research project. * Students willresearch as much of Scharf's imagery from their assigned period aspossible, along with any textual research from the period (magazinearticles, museum catalog text, interviews, etc.). For a final project,each group will complete a large-scale painting, sculpture, environmentor customized object based on their synthesis of their group'sresearch findings. * To see a large selection of Scharf's work, read a completechronology and find other links to Kenny Scharf's work, go toArtnet.com. From the home page, search for Kenny Scharf. At the Scharfpage, click on "Artists Works Catalogue." Next, click on"Works of Art." This section provides excellent images fromthe late 1970s to the present.