Abbi Kenny, "Snack Display at Tony’s"

Artist Statement

As a painter who creates drawings, they each have distinctive material processes, but I mentally approach them with similar intentions. This approach is a deliberation on the processes of layering color, developing texture, and forming detail through logical and economical means. Within this conjoined practice, photography is essential. To create paintings, I begin by arranging and orchestrating still lives, but to draw, my photos are far more instantaneous and momentary. I photograph snippets of time that invite me to revisit them later. I see these snippets as junctures between quotidian objects, feelings, and light/time. Frequently as we sit down to dinner, I proclaim, "wait, nobody move," as I scamper off to fetch my camera from the next room over. I must always carry a camera with me to capture these occasions, whether that be my iPhone or my trusty 35mm film camera named Roland.

Artist Bio

Abbi Kenny is an emerging artist and painter living and working in Providence, Rhode Island, USA. In May 2020, she graduated from Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA and honors in painting and a concentration in the Theory and History of Art and Design. Before her senior year, Abbi received the Royal Drawing School’s Dumfries House Estate drawing residency and grant near Cumnock, Scotland. During her senior year, she participated in RISD’s European Honors Program in Rome, Italy. Her work has been exhibited in group shows across the northeastern US and internationally at galleries such as Abigail Ogilvy Gallery, House of Venus, Tchotchke Gallery, and the Tub Hackney.

Drawer 3- Snack Display at Tony’s marker, pen, colored pencil, and pencil on paper 10 x 7 inches 2021 $250