Kenny Scharf stands as one of the most distinctive figures to emerge from the New York downtown scene of the late 1970s and 1980s, where art, music, and street culture converged into a new visual language. Closely associated with Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat, Scharf developed a practice rooted in pop culture, science fiction, and cartoon imagery, yet one that carries a deeper, often critical reflection on consumerism and environmental anxiety. His work is immediately recognizable for its exuberant palette, biomorphic forms, and animated characters, forming a universe that is at once playful, chaotic, and conceptually charged.

Introduction

Born in 1958 in Los Angeles, Scharf moved to New York in the late 1970s to study at the School of Visual Arts, where he encountered a generation of artists redefining the boundaries of contemporary art. He became an integral part of the East Village art scene, exhibiting alongside Haring and Basquiat, and participating in alternative spaces that blurred the line between gallery, club, and street. From early on, Scharf distinguished himself through his embrace of popular imagery, drawing from cartoons such as The Flintstones and The Jetsons, while embedding these references within a broader, often dystopian vision of contemporary life.

In Scharf’s nascent practice there emerged a zealous employment of color and style, synthesizing an assortment of anthropomorphic characters that became the artist’s lifelong cast. Hosting parties with Keith Haring, with whom he shared an apartment with at the time in 1980 and 1981, Scharf took his art to the walls of Manhattan, assembling his Cosmic Caverns with Day-Glo and UV paints that formed the settings for the disco parties that are practically coupled with the legacy of the East Village art scene. In 1981, Scharf had his first solo exhibition with FUN Gallery: a space that Scharf not only inaugurated with his show, but he is also credited with naming.

Opened on East 11th Street by underground actress Patti Astor, FUN Gallery was one of the most important spaces in the Village scene that helped launch the careers of Fab 5 Freddy, Futura 2000 and Keith Haring, as well as showing Jean-Michel Basquiat in 1982. Deeply embedded and one of the central protagonists of this circle, Scharf epitomizes the vibrancy of the New York Avant-Garde that instantly drew the attention of Diego Cortez, Jeffrey Deitch and Bruno Bischofberger, who attended FUN Gallery to get access to the ascendant stars of the New Wave and Punk movements. His breakthrough inclusion in the Whitney Biennial in 1985 was the institutional watershed for Scharf, and his career truly took off in earnest, with global exhibitions following at Galerie Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich, and Akira Ikeda Gallery, Tokyo.

Main Series and Bodies of Work

Scharf’s work is characterized by its dense, immersive compositions filled with cartoon-like figures, organic shapes, and saturated colors. His visual language merges elements of animation, graffiti, and abstraction into a continuous, fluid surface. The characters, often exaggerated, hybrid, or mutated, inhabit environments that feel both playful and unstable. Faces dissolve into patterns, bodies merge with surroundings, and space becomes an active, almost living field. Despite its apparent exuberance, the work frequently carries an undercurrent of tension. The imagery suggests excess, transformation, and sometimes collapse, hinting at broader concerns related to technology, mass culture, and environmental degradation. Scharf’s practice unfolds across several recurring bodies of work rather than strictly defined series.

Cosmic Caverns / Pop Surrealist Environments
Among his most iconic contributions are immersive installations and painted environments, often referred to as “Cosmic Caverns.” These spaces transform entire rooms into continuous pictorial surfaces, enveloping the viewer within Scharf’s universe.

Cartoon-Based Paintings
Scharf frequently incorporates and reinterprets characters from American animation, blending them with his own invented forms. These works operate as both homage and critique, reflecting the pervasive influence of mass media.

Abstract Biomorphic Works
Alongside his figurative compositions, Scharf produces works that move toward abstraction, where faces and bodies dissolve into fluid, interconnected forms. These pieces emphasize rhythm, movement, and chromatic intensity.

Environmental and Dystopian Themes
Across his oeuvre, recurring motifs—pollution, mutation, excess—introduce a more critical dimension. The playful surface often conceals a vision of a world shaped by overconsumption and ecological imbalance.

Scharf works across a wide range of mediums, including painting, sculpture, installation, and performance. His paintings are typically executed in acrylic on canvas, allowing for bold, saturated colors and rapid execution. He is also known for working on unconventional surfaces, such as appliances, furniture, or walls, extending his practice into everyday objects and environments. This approach reinforces his interest in dissolving boundaries between art and life. His installations, particularly the Cosmic Caverns, demonstrate a totalizing approach to space, where painting becomes environment rather than object.

Institutional Presence

Kenny Scharf’s work has been the subject of numerous institutional exhibitions, including major retrospectives such as Kenny Scharf at the Hammer Museum in 2021. Scharf’s work has been exhibited widely, including at the Salvador Dali Museum, St. Petersburg; Biennale de Sao Paolo, Brazil; Queens Museum of Art, New York; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Portland Art Museum; and the NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale.

His works are held in major public collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Stedelijk Museum, among others. These institutional holdings reinforce his importance within the history of late 20th-century American art.

Gallery Representation

Scharf is represented by Almine Rech, which has played a key role in maintaining his visibility within the global market.

He also collaborates with various galleries internationally, reflecting the broad and cross-generational appeal of his work.

Scharf’s impact lies in his ability to merge high and low culture without hierarchy. By integrating cartoon imagery, street aesthetics, and painterly abstraction, he helped redefine what contemporary art could encompass. His work anticipates and influences later movements, including pop surrealism and contemporary figurative painting, while maintaining a distinct identity rooted in the cultural landscape of the 1980s.

Kenny Scharf’s work operates as a vibrant yet complex system, one that invites immediate visual engagement while sustaining deeper conceptual readings. Positioned between celebration and critique, his practice continues to resonate as both a product of its time and a reflection on the conditions that persist today.

PART I: SUMMARY

Auction Market Overview

2025 AUCTION STATISTICS
Turnover: USD 1,288,944
-44.8% vs. 2024
# Lots sold: 21
Sell-Through Rate: 75%

MARKET SEGMENTATION
83% of sales in the US
50% of lots sold between USD 100K-500K

Highest Price Achieved at Auction:
USD 983,175
(19 May 2022)

Kenny Scharf’s market has remained consistently strong, supported by his historical position within the East Village scene and his association with Haring and Basquiat.

Demand spans multiple categories, including paintings, works on paper, and sculptures. His vibrant visual language and accessibility have contributed to a broad collector base, ranging from seasoned collectors to new entrants.

In recent years, renewed institutional attention has further reinforced his market position.

Kenny Scharf’s artworks have a very strong track record at auction, and show substantial price increases between 2022 and 2021, with very solid sell-through rates.

Auction Summary

2025 Auction Highlights

21 lots sold at auction in 2025 for a total turnover of USD 1,288,944. With 7 lots failing to sell, the sell-through rate is 75%. The highest price was achieved by Macro-Micro, a work on canvas dated 1983 from The Collection of Kamran Diba, that sold at Sotheby’s in New-York, on 19 November 2025, for USD 190,500.

2025 Top 3 Lots

5 lots sold for more than USD 100,000, generating a cumulative turnover of USD 692,325, representing 53.7% of the total turnover of 2025.

2024 Auction Highlights

25 lots sold at auction in 2024 for a total turnover of USD 2,333,415. With 4 lots failing to sell, the sell-through rate is 85%. The highest price has been achieved by Coffee Klatch, a painting dated 2004, that sold at Phillips in Hong-Kong, on 1 June 2024, for HKD 2,159,000 (USD 276,150).

2024 Top 3 Lots

9 lots sold for more than USD 100,000, generating a cumulative turnover of USD 1,625,875, representing 69.7% of the total for 2024.

2023 Auction Highlights

20 lots sold at auction in 2023 for a total turnover of USD 3,298,224. With 6 lots failing to sell, the sell-through rate is 76.9%. The highest price has been achieved at Heritage Auctions on 23 May 2023, when Astro Cumulo Uber Express, an exceptional 1960 Cadillac entirely painted by the artist sold for USD 435,000.

2023 Top 3 Lots

10 lots sold for more than USD 100,000, generating a cumulative turnover of USD 2,855,659, representing 86.6% of the total turnover for 2023.

2022 Auction Highlights

29 lots sold at auction in 2022 for a total turnover of USD 5,947,235. With 3 lots failing to sell, the sell-through rate is 91%. City of the Future, a painting dated 2005 sold at Bonhams in New-York on 19 May 2022 for USD 983,175, a new auction record for the artist.

2022 Top 3 Lots

17 lots sold for more than USD 100,000, generating a cumulative turnover of USD 5,156,383, representing 86.7% of the total for 2022.

Top Lots

#1. City of the Future, 2005

Bonhams New-York: 19 May 2022
Estimated: USD 600,000 – 800,000
USD 983,175

Bonhams : KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958) City of the Future 2005

#2. Travel Time, 1984

Christie’s New-York: 9 November 2021
Estimated: USD 300,000 – 500,000
USD 870,000

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958) (christies.com)

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958)
Travel Time, 1984
Acrylic and spray paint on canvas
72×96 inches (182.9 x 243.8 cm)
Signed and dated ‘Kenny Scharf 84’ (on the reverse)

#3. Op-Bop, 1985

Sotheby’s New-York: 17 November 2022
Estimated: USD 300,000 – 400,000
USD 630,000

Op-Bop | Contemporary Day Auction | 2022 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

KENNY SCHARF (b. 1958)
Op-Bop, 1985
Acrylic, oil and enamel spray paint on canvas
87×89 inches (221 x 226.1 cm)

#4. Red Ball Jets and Orangetricity, 1983

Christie’s London: 2 July 2021
Estimated: GBP 40,000 – 60,000
GBP 400,000 / USD 551,800

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958) (christies.com)

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958)
Red Ball Jets and Orangetricity, 1983
Oil and spray paint on canvas, in artist’s frame
46 1/2 x 36 5/8 inches (118×93 cm)
Signed and titled ‘RED BALL JETS + ORANGETRICITY Kenny Scharf’ (on the reverse)

#5. LOVE, 1982

Christie’s New-York: 5 March 2020
Estimated: USD 30,000 – 50,000
USD 525,000

Kenny Scharf (b. 1958), LOVE | Christie’s

KENNY SCHARF (b. 1958)
LOVE, 1982
Acrylic and spray paint on canvas
60×72 inches (152.4 x 182.9 m)
Signed, titled and dated ‘Kenny Scharf 1982 LOVE’ (on the stretcher)

PART II: AUCTION RESULTS

2026 Auction Results

Untitled, 1982

Sotheby’s New-York: 27 February 2026
Estimated: USD 50,000 – 70,000
USD 44,800

Kenny Scharf and LA II (Angel Ortiz) | Untitled | Contemporary

KENNY SCHARF and LA II (Angel Ortiz) (b. 1958 and b. 1967)
Untitled, 1982
Acrylic, spray paint and Sharpie on canvas
30-1/2 x 41 inches (77.5 x 104.1 cm)
Signed by LA II (center and lower right)
Signed by Kenny Scharf with the artist’s pseudonym Van Chrome (on the reverse)

Boy, 1983

Bonhams London: 6 March 2026
Estimated: GBP 35,000 – 55,000
GBP 32,000 / USD 42,875

Bonhams : KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958) Boy (Painted in 1983)

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958)
Boy, 1983
Oil and spray paint on found wooden bed frame
40-7/8 x 31-1/2 inches (104×80 cm)
Signed, titled and dated ‘Kenny Scharf Boy 83’ (on the reverse)

Lots Passed

BLIP, 2019

Property from the Collection of Jane Scher
Sotheby’s New-York: 27 February 2026
Estimated: USD 70,000 – 100,000
PASSED

Kenny Scharf | Blip | Contemporary Discoveries | 2026 | Sotheby’s

KENNY SCHARF (b. 1958)
BLIP, 2019
Spray paint on canvas
40×40 inches (101.6 x 101.6 cm)
Signed, titled and dated ’19 (on the reverse)

2025 Auction Results

21 lots sold at auction in 2025 for a total turnover of USD 1,288,944. With 7 lots failing to sell, the sell-through rate is 75%. The highest price was achieved by Macro-Micro, a work on canvas dated 1983 from The Collection of Kamran Diba, that sold at Sotheby’s in New-York, on 19 November 2025, for USD 190,500.

2025 Top 3 Lots

5 lots sold for more than USD 100,000, generating a cumulative turnover of USD 692,325, representing 53.7% of the total turnover of 2025.

XXXXXXXXXXX

#1. Macro-Micro, 1983

Works from the Collection of Kamran Diba
Sotheby’s New-York: 19 November 2025
Estimated: USD 150,000 – 200,000
USD 190,500

Macro-Micro | Contemporary Day Auction | 2025 | Sotheby’s

KENNY SCHARF (b. 1958)
Macro-Micro, 1983
Oil, acrylic and spray paint on canvas
72×48 inches (182.9 x 121.9 cm)
Signed, titled and dated 83 (on the reverse)

#2. BIG GREEN MEAN SHEEN, 1983

Phillips London: 18 October 2025
Estimated: GBP 100,000 – 150,000
GPB 109,650 / USD 147,225

Kenny Scharf Modern & Contemporary Art Day Sale

#3. GRINK PAK, 2021

Christie’s New-York: 27 February 2025
Estimated: USD 120,000 – 180,000
USD 126,000

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958), GRINK PAK | Christie’s

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958)
GRINK PAK, 2021
Spray paint on canvas, in artist’s powder-coated aluminum frame
56 1/4 x 104 7/8 inches (142.9 x 266.4 cm)
Signed, titled and dated ‘Grink Pak Kenny Scharf ’21’ (on the reverse)

#4. NEW WORLD ORDER, 1991

Phillips New-York: 15 May 2025
Estimated: USD 100,000 – 150,000
USD 120,650
READ MORE IN THE FOCUS SECTION

Kenny Scharf Modern & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Morning Session

#6. Cyclopedia de Liberdage, 1986

Phillips New-York: 28 February 2025
Estimated: USD 30,000 – 40,000
USD 95,250

Kenny Scharf – New Now: Modern & Contemporary Art, New York Friday, February 28, 2025 at EST | Phillips

#8. Macrolentz, 2019

Phillips New-York: 15 May 2025
Estimated: USD 60,000 – 80,000
USD 69,850

Kenny Scharf Modern & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Morning Session

#9. West 27th Street Gatescapes Mural, 2012

#11. Squirtz, 2013-2021

#12. PLACADEZZ, 1997

#13. PARADIS PERDU SCULPTURE, 2022

#14. Sik, 2020

#15. Foliage, 1995

Christie’s Paris: 27 May 2025
Estimated: EUR 12,000 – 18,000
EUR 22,680 / USD 25,830

Kenny Scharf (né en 1958), Foliage | Christie’s

KENNY SCHARF (born 1958)
Foliage, 1995
Acrylic on canvas mounted on cardboard
13 7/8 x 17 7/8 inches (35.3 x 45.5 cm)
Signed, titled and dated ”’Foliage” Kenny Scharf 95′ (on the reverse)

#16. The Pressure’s On, 1991

Sotheby’s Paris: 11 April 2025
Estimated: EUR 10,000 – 15,000
EUR 22,860 / USD 25,735

The Pressure’s On | Art Moderne et Contemporain Day Auction | 2025 | Sotheby’s

KENNY SCHARF (b. 1958)
The Pressure’s On, 1991
Acrylic, oil, silkscreen ink on canvas board laid down on masonite
15 3/4 x 19 3/4 inches (40×50 cm)
Signed and dated 1991 (on the reverse)

#17. Hope, 1995

#18. PHILIPS TIME TO GO, 2022

Phillips New-York: 21 November 2025
Estimated: USD 20,000 – 30,000
USD 23,220

Kenny Scharf Modern & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Morning Session

#19. Untitled, 1992

#20. AUTOMATICS, 2006

#21. Faciala, 1998

Phillips New-York: 30 September 2025
Estimated: USD 6,000 – 8,000
USD 7,740

Kenny Scharf Modern & Contemporary Art: Online Auction, New York

Lots Passed

Imperialistic, 1989

Christie’s online: 16 December 2025
Estimated: USD 80,000 – 120,000
PASSED

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958), Imperialistic | Christie’s

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958)
Imperialistic, 1989
Oil, acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas
80×116 inches (203.2 x 294.6 cm)
Signed, titled and dated ‘Kenny Scharf ’89 imperialistic’ (on the reverse)

Phaty, 1989

Christie’s online: 18 July 2025
Estimated: USD 70,000 – 100,000
PASSED

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958), Phaty | Christie’s

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958)
Phaty, 2019
Spray paint on canvas
40×40 inches (101.6 x 101.6 cm)
Signed, titled and dated ‘Phaty Kenny Scharf ’19’ (on the reverse)

Sik, 2020

Phillips New-York: 16 July 2025
Estimated: USD 70,000 – 100,000
PASSED

Kenny Scharf Modern & Contemporary Art

BLIP, 2019

Sotheby’s New-York: 15 July 2025
Estimated: USD 80,000 – 120,000
PASSED

BLIP | Contemporary Discoveries | 2025 | Sotheby’s

KENNY SCHARF (b. 1958)
BLIP, 2019
Spray paint on canvas
40×40 inches (101.6 x 101.6 cm)
Signed, titled and dated ’19 (on the reverse)

KAOTIKA, 2022

Christie’s New-York: 15 May 2025
Estimated: USD 180,000 – 250,000
PASSED

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958), KAOTIKA | Christie’s

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958)
KAOTIKA, 2022
Spray paint on canvas
82×82 inches (208.3 x 208.3 cm)
Signed, titled and dated ‘Kaotika Kenny Scharf ’22’ (on the reverse)

Lots Withdrawn

Division of the Sexes, 1984

Sotheby’s New-York: 26 September 2025
Estimated: USD 200,000 – 300,000
WITHDRAWN

Division of the Sexes | Contemporary Curated | 2025 | Sotheby’s

KENNY SCHARF (b. 1958)
Division of the Sexes, 1984
Oil and spray paint on canvas
89 x 86 1/2 inches (226.1 x 219.7 cm
Signed, titled and dated 84 (on the reverse)

The artist pictured with the present work installed in Kenny Scharf at Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York, December 1984 – January 1985.
Art © Kenny Scharf/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

2024 Auction Results

25 lots sold at auction in 2024 for a total turnover of USD 2,333,415. With 4 lots failing to sell, the sell-through rate is 85%. The highest price has been achieved by Coffee Klatch, a painting dated 2004, that sold at Phillips in Hong-Kong, on 1 June 2024, for HKD 2,159,000 (USD 276,150).

2024 Top 3 Lots

9 lots sold for more than USD 100,000, generating a cumulative turnover of USD 1,625,875, representing 69.7% of the total for 2024.

XXXXXXXXXX

#1. Coffee Klatch, 2004

Phillips Hong-Kong: 1 June 2024
Estimated: HKD 400,000 – 600,000
HKD 2,159,000 / USD 276,150

https://www.phillips.com/detail/kenny-scharf/HK010224/119

#2. Modern Messterpiece, 1985

Sotheby’s London: 7 March 2024
Estimated: GBP 150,000 – 200,000
GBP 190,500 / USD 242,620

Modern Messterpiece | Modern & Contemporary Day Auction | 2024 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

KENNY SCHARF (b. 1958)
Modern Messterpiece, 1985
Oil, acrylic and spray paint on canvas
84 x 108 1/8 inches (213.5 x 274.5 cm)
Signed, titled and dated 85 (on the reverse)

#3. BEYOND, 1999

Phillips New-York: 15 May 2024
Estimated: USD 150,000 – 200,000
USD 241,300

Kenny Scharf – Modern & Contemporary Ar… Lot 206 May 2024 | Phillips

KENNY SCHARF
BEYOND, 1999
Oil on canvas, in artist’s frame
76×86 inches (193 x 218.4 cm)
Signed, titled and dated “Beyond Kenny Scharf ’99” on the reverse

#4. BLUD ‘N TAR, 2024

Christie’s New-York: 17 May 2024
Estimated: USD 120,000 – 180,000
USD 189,000

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958), BLUD ‘N TAR | Christie’s (christies.com)

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958)
BLUD ‘N TAR, 2024
Spray paint on canvas, in artist’s frame
60×72 inches (152.4 x 182.9 cm)
Signed, titled and dated ‘Blud ‘n Tar Kenny Scharf ’24’ (on the reverse)

#5. Bliggly, 2019

Christie’s London: 9 March 2024
Estimated: GBP 100,000 – 150,000
GBP 119,700 / USD 153,910

https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6470277

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958)
Bliggly, 2019
Spray paint on canvas laid on board
Diameter: 60 inches (152.4 cm)
Signed, titled, inscribed and dated ‘Bliggly Kenny Scharf 229 2019’ (on the reverse)

#9. Quark, 2021

Phillips Hong-Kong: 1 June 2024
Estimated: HKD 700,000 – 1,000,000
HKD 825,500 / USD 105,585

https://www.phillips.com/detail/kenny-scharf/HK010224/120

#11. Faceballz, 2021

Christie’s New-York: 1 October 2024
Estimated: USD 80,000 – 120,000
USD 88,200

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958), Faceballz | Christie’s

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958)
Faceballz, 2021
Oil, acrylic and spray paint on linen, in artist’s frame
60 5/8 x 48 5/8 inches (154 x 123.5 cm)
Signed, titled and dated ‘Faceballz Kenny Scharf ’21’ (on the reverse)

KENNY SCHARF
Untitled, 1984
Spray paint on metal sheet
78 5/8 x 39 3/8 inches (200×100 cm)

#14. Power Happy, 1987

Christie’s New-York: 13 March 2024
Estimated: USD 50,000 – 70,000
USD 63,000

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958), Power Happy | Christie’s (christies.com)

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958)
Power Happy, 1987
Oil on bronze
57 1/2 x 27 1/2 x 26 inches (146.1 x 69.9 x 66 cm)
Incised with the artist’s signature and date ‘Kenny Scharf 87’ (lower right)
This work is from an edition of three, of which only one was fabricated

#15. ICE MONT STER, 2014

Bonhams LA: 25 July 2024
Estimated: USD 20,000 – 20,000
USD 51,200

Bonhams : KENNY SCHARF (BORN 1958) ICE MONT STER

#17. New Vim!, 1983

Sotheby’s New-York: 1 March 2024
Estimated: USD 15,000 – 25,000
USD 38,100

https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2024/contemporary-curated/new-vim

KENNY SCHARF (b. 1958)
New Vim!, 1983
Marker and ink on paper, in 6 parts
Each: 9 1/2 x 6 inches (24.1 x 15.2 cm)

#18. Paintinga, 2021

Phillips Hong-Kong: 26 November 2024
Estimated: HKD 280,000 – 380,000
HKD 219,400 / USD 35,900

Kenny Scharf – Modern & Contempora… Lot 178 November 2024 | Phillips

#19. Untitled (Two Green Aliens), 1981-1982

Sotheby’s New-York: 1 March 2024
Estimated: USD 15,000 – 20,000
USD 31,750

https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2024/contemporary-curated/untitled-two-green-aliens

KENNY SCHARF (b. 1958)
Untitled (Two Green Aliens), 1981-1982
Acrylic on canvas
16×20 inches (40.6 x 50.8 cm)

#20. JET BOY, 1984

Sotheby’s New-York: 2 October 2024
Estimated: USD 25,000 – 35,000
USD 31,200

JET BOY | Contemporary Discoveries | 2024 | Sotheby’s

KENNY SCHARF (b. 1958)
JET BOY, 1984
Oil on canvas mounted to wood
47 1/4 x 18 1/4 inches (120 x 46.4 cm)
Signed, titled and dated 84 (on the reverse)

#21. ZIPZAMBALL, 1999

Sotheby’s New-York: 4 March 2024
Estimated: USD 15,000 – 20,000
USD 20,320

https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2024/contemporary-discoveries-4/zipzamball

KENNY SCHARF (b. 1958)
ZIPZAMBALL, 1999
Bronze
31 3/4 x 22 x 7 3/4 inches (80.6 x 55.9 x 19.7 cm)
Incised with the artist’s signature, date 99 and number 4/4 (near the base)
This work is number 4 from the edition of 4 plus 2 artist’s proofs

#22. Double fizzie worm, 2006

Phillips New-York: 12 March 2024
Estimated: USD 18,000 – 25,000
USD 20,320

Kenny Scharf – New Now New York Lot 154 March 2024 | Phillips

#23. Paradis Perdu, 2022

Bonhams New-York: 23 May 2024
Estimated: USD 15,000 – 20,000
USD 19,200

Bonhams : Kenny Scharf (born 1958); Paradis Perdu;

#25. Telephone, 1995

Wright Chicago: 31 October 2024
Estimated: USD 4,000 – 6,000
USD 12,600

105: KENNY SCHARF, Telephone < 20|21 Art: The Chicago Edition, 31 October 2024 < Auctions | Wright: Auctions of Art and Design

2023 Auction Results

20 lots sold at auction in 2023 for a total turnover of USD 3,298,224. With 6 lots failing to sell, the sell-through rate is 76.9%. The highest price has been achieved at Heritage Auctions on 23 May 2023, when Astro Cumulo Uber Express, an exceptional 1960 Cadillac entirely painted by the artist sold for USD 435,000.

2023 Top 3 Lots

10 lots sold for more than USD 100,000, generating a cumulative turnover of USD 2,855,659, representing 86.6% of the total turnover for 2023.

XXXXXXXXXXX

#1. Astro Cumulo Uber Express, 2005

Heritage Auctions: 23 May 2023
Estimated: USD 400,000 – 600,000
USD 435,000

Kenny Scharf (b. 1958). Astro Cumulo Uber Express, 2005. Spray | Lot #77039 | Heritage Auctions

KENNY SCHARF (b. 1958)
Astro Cumulo Uber Express, 2005
Spray paint, acrylic, enamel, and found objects on fully customized 1960 Cadillac Coupe De Ville
390 cubic in. V-8 engine with automatic transmission
Car is approximately 225 inches long x 80 inches wide x 54.1 inches tall
License plate: 60-CADI
Identification number: 60G100249
Mileage: 5,434 miles

#2. Jade Pea God, 1985

Christie’s New-York: 12 May 2023
Estimated: USD 250,000 – 350,000
USD 428,400

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958) (christies.com)

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958)
Jade Pea God, 1985
Oil on canvas, in artist’s frame
82 x 94 1/2 inches (208.3 x 240 cm)
Signed, titled and dated ‘Jade Pea God Kenny Scharf Sept Dec 85’ (on the reverse)

#3. The Big Bong Theory, 1987

Christie’s New-York: 12 May 2023
Estimated: USD 200,000 – 300,000
USD 415,800

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958) (christies.com)

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958)
The Big Bong Theory, 1987
Oil, acrylic and spray paint on canvas, in artist’s frame
89 1/4 x 89 inches (226.8 x 226.1 cm)
Signed, titled and dated ‘Kenny Scharf 87 The Big Bong Theory’ (on the reverse)

#4. Somnoplaya, 1998

Phillips New-York: 16 May 2023
Estimated: USD 200,000 – 300,000
USD 292,100

Kenny Scharf – 20th Century & Contempor… Lot 155 May 2023 | Phillips

#5. Controlopuss II, 2018

Phillips New-York: 15 November 2023
Estimated: USD 250,000 – 350,000
USD 279,400

Kenny Scharf – 20th Century & Cont… Lot 144 November 2023 | Phillips

#6. Blobzetc…, 2018

Phillips London: 12 October 2023
Estimated: GBP 100,000 – 150,000
GBP 215,900 / USD 265,886

Kenny Scharf – 20th Century & Conte… Lot 136 October 2023 | Phillips

#7. Judy Butterfly, 1981

Christie’s New-York: 15 May 2023
Estimated: USD 100,000 – 150,000
USD 252,000

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958) (christies.com)

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958)
Judy Butterfly, 1981
Acrylic and spray paint on unstretched canvas mounted on linen, in artist-appointed frame
Overall: 73 1/8 x 56 5/8 inches (185.7 x 143.8 cm)
Signed, titled and dated ‘Judy Butterfly Kenny Scharf 81’ (on the reverse)

#8. Curvabolatrap, 1986-1987

Phillips New-York: 27 September 2023
Estimated: USD 200,000 – 300,000
USD 247,650

Kenny Scharf – New Now New York Lot 44 September 2023 | Phillips

#9. Looking Up, 2005-2006

Phillips London: 12 October 2023
Estimated: GBP 80,000 – 120,000
GBP 101,600 / USD 125,123

Kenny Scharf – 20th Century & Conte… Lot 186 October 2023 | Phillips

#10. Heye Guys, 2020

Sotheby’s New-York: 19 July 2023
Estimated: USD 70,000 – 100,000
USD 114,300

Heye Guys | Contemporary Discoveries | 2023 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

KENNY SCHARF (b. 1958)
Heye Guys, 2020
Spray paint on canvas
40×40 inches (101.6 x 101.6 cm)
Signed, titled, dated ’20 and numbered #325

USD 100,000

#11. Glob #4, 1990

Sotheby’s New-York: 19 May 2023
Estimated: USD 60,000 – 80,000
USD 76,200

Glob #4 | Contemporary Day Auction | 2023 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

KENNY SCHARF (b. 1958)
Glob #4, 1990
Oil on canvas
48 x 36 1/4 inches (121.9 x 92.1 cm)

#12. TURTLETOWERPOWER, 2014

Christie’s online: 18 July 2023
Estimated: USD 40,000 – 60,000
USD 63,000

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958), TURTLETOWERPOWER | Christie’s (christies.com)

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958)
TURTLETOWERPOWER, 2014
Oil and acrylic on linen
34 1/8 x 32 inches (86.7 x 81.3 cm)
Signed, titled and dated ‘Turtletowerpower K. Scharf ’14’ (on the reverse)

#13. Unique Surfboard, 2021

Phillips Hong-Kong: 25 May 2023
Estimated: HKD 450,000 – 650,000
HKD 406,400 / USD 51,871

Kenny Scharf – Disruptors: Evening Sale… Lot 353 May 2023 | Phillips

#14. Uglina, 1997

Bonhams New-York: 18 May 2023
Estimated: USD 40,000 – 60,000
USD 50,775

Bonhams : KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958) Uglina 1997

#15. Checkerboard Ghost, 1985

Sotheby’s London: 2 March 2023
Estimated: GBP 30,000 – 50,000
GBP 38,100 / USD 45,822

Checkerboard Ghost | Modern & Contemporary Day Auction | 2023 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

KENNY SCHARF (b. 1958)
Checkerboard Ghost, 1985
Acrylic on canvas
30×24 inches (76 x 60.5 cm)
Signed, titled and dated Vermont Summer 85 on the reverse

#16. Tangle, 2003

Phillips London: 3 March 2023
Estimated: GBP 35,000 – 45,000
GBP 33,020 / USD 39,456

Kenny Scharf – 20th Century & Contemp… Lot 142 March 2023 | Phillips

#17. Maple Glazed Donut Over Fertile Landscape, 2010

Sotheby’s New-York: 15 March 2023
Estimated: USD 20,000 – 30,000
USD 38,100

Maple Glazed Donut Over Fertile Landscape | Contemporary Discoveries | 2023 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

KENNY SCHARF (b. 1958)
Maple Glazed Donut Over Fertile Landscape, 2010
Oil on linen
23 7/8 x 23 3/4 inches (60.6 x 60.3 cm)
Signed Kenny Scharf, titled and dated ‘10 (on the reverse)

#18. TCL ROKU TV, 2021

Sotheby’s New-York: 19 July 2023
Estimated: USD 20,000 – 30,000
USD 30,480

TCL ROKU TV | Contemporary Discoveries | 2023 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

KENNY SCHARF (b. 1958)
TCL ROKU TV, 2021
Oil and acrylic on flat screen TV
17x29x4 inches (43.2 x 73.7 x 10.2 cm)
Signed, titled and dated ’21 (on the reverse)

#19. Travelaire, 2000

Phillips London: 3 March 2023
Estimated: GBP 20,000 – 30,000
GBP 25,400 / USD 30,350

Kenny Scharf – 20th Century & Contemp… Lot 143 March 2023 | Phillips

 2022 Auction Results

29 lots sold at auction in 2022 for a total turnover of USD 5,947,235. With 3 lots failing to sell, the sell-through rate is 91%. City of the Future, a painting dated 2005 sold at Bonhams in New-York on 19 May 2022 for USD 983,175, a new auction record for the artist.

2022 Top 3 Lots

17 lots sold for more than USD 100,000, generating a cumulative turnover of USD 5,156,383, representing 86.7% of the total for 2022.

XXXXXXXXXXX

#1. City of the Future, 2005

Bonhams New-York: 19 May 2022
Estimated: USD 600,000 – 800,000
USD 983,175
NEW AUCTION RECORD FOR THE ARTIST

Bonhams : KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958) City of the Future 2005

#2. Op-Bop, 1985

#5. Kurple, 2019

Christie’s London: 2 March 2022
Estimated: GBP 70,000 – 100,000
GBP 277,200 / USD 370,538

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958) (christies.com)

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958)
Kurple, 2019
Spray paint on canvas laid on board
Diameter: 60 inches (152 cm)
Signed, titled, numbered and dated ‘Kurple #213 Kenny Scharf ’19’ (on the reverse)

#6. DR PURPLE, 2019

Phillips New-York: 19 May 2022
Estimated: USD 120,000 – 180,000
USD 302,400

Kenny Scharf – 20th Century & Contempor… Lot 125 May 2022 | Phillips

KENNY SCHARF
DR PURPLE, 2019
Spray paint on canvas mounted to panel
Diameter 60 in. (152.4 cm)
Signed, titled and dated “Dr. Purple Kenny Scharf ’19” on the reverse

#7. Bobby Mandala, 1991

Christie’s New-York: 13 May 2022
Estimated: USD 100,000 – 150,000
USD 277,200

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958) (christies.com)

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958)
Bobby Mandala, 1991
Oil and silkscreen ink on canvas, in artist’s Plexiglas mirror and aluminum frame
72×62 inches (182.9 x 157.5 cm)
Signed and dated ‘Kenny Scharf 91-92’ (on the reverse)

#8. Mortal Time, 1987

Christie’s New-York: 18 November 2022
Estimated: USD 80,000 – 120,000
USD 239,400

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958) (christies.com)

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958)
Mortal Time, 1987
Acrylic on canvas, in artist’s aluminum frame
60 x 76 3/4 inches (152 x 195.1 cm)
Signed, titled and dated ‘Mortal Time Kenny Scharf 87’ (on the reverse)

#9. PRIMARYBLOBZ, 2019

Phillips New-York: 19 May 2022
Estimated: USD 80,000 – 120,000
USD 214,200

Kenny Scharf – 20th Century & Contempor… Lot 124 May 2022 | Phillips

KENNY SCHARF
PRIMARYBLOBZ, 2019
Oil and acrylic on linen, in artist’s powder-coated aluminum frame
36×40 inches (91.4 x 101.6 cm)
Signed, titled and dated “Primaryblobz K Scharf ’19” on the reverse

#10. Gridlock, 1990

Sotheby’s New-York: 11 March 2022
Estimated: USD 140,000 – 200,000
USD 214,200

Gridlock | Contemporary Curated | 2022 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

KENNY SCHARF (b. 1958)
Gridlock, 1990
Oil, acrylic and silkscreen on canvas, in pleather artist’s frame
52 3/8 x 63 3/4 inches (133×162 cm)

#11. Yurple, 2020

AstaGuru Mumbai: 19 November 2022
Estimated: RPY 94,80,000 – 1,18,50,000
RPY 1,58,02,001 / USD 193,621

https://www.astaguru.com/search?q=kenny%20scharf

KENNY SCHARF
Yurple, 2020
Spray paint on canvas
Diameter: 40 inches

#12. FRACKATTACK, 2017

Christie’s New-York: 13 May 2022
Estimated: USD 100,000 – 150,000
USD 176,400

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958) (christies.com)

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958)
FRACKATTACK, 2017
Oil, acrylic, ink and synthetic polymer on canvas, in powder coated aluminum artist’s frame
90×70 inches (228.6 x 177.8 cm)
Signed, titled and dated ‘Frackattack Kenny Scharf ’17’ (on the reverse)

#13. Retchmess Chunkychunky, 1985

Sotheby’s New-York: 30 September 2022
Estimated: USD 150,000 – 200,000
USD 163,800

Retchmess Chunkychunky | Contemporary Curated | 2022 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

KENNY SCHARF (b. 1958)
Retchmess Chunkychunky, 1985
Oil, acrylic, spray paint, plastic toys, fake feathers and tinsel collage on canvas
72×72 inches (182.8 x 182.8 cm)
Signed Kenny Scharf, titled Retchmess Chunkychunky and dated 1985 (on the verso)

#14. COLDHAPPY, 2019

Christie’s London: 1 July 2022
Estimated: GBP 50,000 – 70,000
GBP 126,000 / USD 151,843

https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6381524

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958)
COLDHAPPY, 2019
Spray paint on canvas
Diameter: 36 inches (91.5 cm)
Signed, titled and dated ‘Cold happy Kenny Scharf ’19’ (on the reverse)

#15. Fuzzurple, 2020

Christie’s Hong-Kong: 27 May 2022
Estimated: HKD 400,000 – 600,000
HKD 945,000 / USD 120,389

https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6376982

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958)
Fuzzurple, 2020
Spray paint on canvas
Diameter: 40 inches (101.6 cm)
Signed, titled, inscribed and dated ‘Fuzzurple K. Scharf 2020 #248’ (on the reverse)

#17. Lavup, 2002

Phillips London: 29 June 2022
Estimated: GBP 70,000 – 90,000
GBP 88,200 / USD 107,129

Kenny Scharf – 20th Century & Contempo… Lot 139 June 2022 | Phillips

#18. Figure, circa 1983

Christie’s Paris: 29 June 2022
Estimated: EUR 25,000 – 35,000
EUR 94,500 / USD 98,983

https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6382282

KENNY SCHARF (Born 1958)
Figure, circa 1983
Spray paint on wooden door
76 3/8 x 30 1/8 inches (194 x 76.5 cm)

#19. Indian Summer, 1985

Sotheby’s New-York: 20 May 2022
Estimated: USD 80,000 – 120,000
USD 94,500

Indian Summer | Contemporary Day Auction | 2022 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

KENNY SCHARF (b. 1958)
Indian Summer, 1985
Acrylic, oil, enamel, foam and found objects on canvas, in artist’s frame
31 ⅝ x 55 ½ inches (80.3 x 141 cm)
Signed Kenny Scharf, titled and dated Dec 85 (on the reverse)

#20. Infinitum, 1996

Christie’s London: 2 March 2022
Estimated: GBP 45,000 – 65,000
GBP 60,480 / USD 80,844

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958) (christies.com)

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958)
Infinitum, 1996
Oil and acrylic on canvas
32 1/8 x 42 1/8 inches (81.7 x 107 cm)
Signed, titled and dated ‘Kenny Scharf Infinitum ’96’ (on the reverse)

#22. Alive, 1995

Christie’s London: 2 March 2022
Estimated: GBP 25,000 – 35,000
GBP 56,700 / USD 75,792

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958), Alive | Christie’s

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958)
Alive, 1995
Oil and acrylic on canvas
30×24 inches (76.2 x 61 cm)
Signed, titled and dated ‘Alive Kenny Scharf 95’ (on the reverse)

#24. Fresh ‘N Clean, 1997

Christie’s New-York: 10 March 2022
Estimated: USD 40,000 – 60,000
USD 69,300

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958), Fresh ‘N Clean | Christie’s

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958)
Fresh ‘N Clean, 1997
Oil, acrylic and spray paint canvas, in artist’s frame
21 x 26 1/2 inches (53.3 x 67.3 cm)
Signed, titled and dated ‘Kenny Scharf ’97 Fresh ‘N Clean’ (on the reverse)

2021 Auction Results

#1. Travel Time, 1984

Christie’s New-York: 9 November 2021
Estimated: USD 300,000 – 500,000
USD 870,000

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958) (christies.com)

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958)
Travel Time, 1984
Acrylic and spray paint on canvas
72×96 inches (182.9 x 243.8 cm)
Signed and dated ‘Kenny Scharf 84’ (on the reverse)

#2. Red Ball Jets and Orangetricity, 1983

Christie’s London: 2 July 2021
Estimated: GBP 40,000 – 60,000
GBP 400,000 / USD 551,800

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958) (christies.com)

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958)
Red Ball Jets and Orangetricity, 1983
Oil and spray paint on canvas, in artist’s frame
46 1/2 x 36 5/8 inches (118×93 cm)
Signed and titled ‘RED BALL JETS + ORANGETRICITY Kenny Scharf’ (on the reverse)

#4. 3, 1994

Christie’s New-York: 12 November 2021
Estimated: USD 70,000 – 100,000
USD 450,000

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958) (christies.com)

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958)
3, 1994
Oil and acrylic on canvas, in artist’s frame
60 7/8 x 83 7/8 inches (154.6 x 213 cm)
Signed, titled and dated ‘Kenny Scharf “3” 1994’ (on the reverse)

#5. Out of this World, 1989-1990

Christie’s New-York: 14 May 2021
Estimated: USD 250,000 – 300,000
USD 375,000

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958) (christies.com)

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958)
Out of this World, 1989-1990
Oil and acrylic on canvas, in artist’s frame
90 1/2 x 139 1/4 inches (230 x 353 cm)
Signed and dated ‘Kenny Scharf 1990’ (on the reverse)

#6. Butterfly Jungle, 1989

Christie’s online: 21 July 2021
Estimated: USD 60,000 – 80,000
USD 300,000

Kenny Scharf (b. 1958), Butterfly Jungle | Christie’s (christies.com)

KENNY SCHARF (b. 1958)
Butterfly Jungle, 1989
Acrylic on Brazilian sailcloth
80 1/4 x 421/4 inches (203.2 x 106.7 cm)
Signed, titled, inscribed and dated ‘To Gil – Kenny Scharf 89 Butterfly Jungle’ (on the reverse)

#7. Staticontrol, 1990

Phillips New-York: 18 November 2021
Estimated: USD 70,000 – 100,000
USD 277,200

Kenny Scharf – 20th Century & Cont… Lot 222 November 2021 | Phillips

#9. Bluepz, 2019

Sotheby’s Hong-Kong: 20 April 2021
Estimated: HKD 350,000 – 550,000
HKD 1,134,000 / USD 146,113

Kenny Scharf 肯尼·沙夫 | Bluepz | Contemporary Art Day Sale | 2021 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

KENNY SCHARF (b.1958)
Bluepz, 2019
Acrylic and spray paint on canvas mounted on wood panel
Diameter: 39 3/8 inches (100 cm)
Signed, titled and dated ’19 on the reverse

#10. Groovenian Airspace, 2003

Sotheby’s New-York: 19 November 2021
Estimated: USD 50,000 – 70,000
USD 138,600

Groovenian Airspace | Contemporary Day Auction | 2021 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

KENNY SCHARF (b. 1958)
Groovenian Airspace, 2003
Oil on canvas
34×46 inches (86.4 x 116.8 cm)

#13. Untitled, 1983

Phillips New-York: 24 June 2021
Estimated: USD 15,000 – 20,000
USD 119,700

Kenny Scharf – 20th Century & Contempo… Lot 153 June 2021 | Phillips

#18. Tribolic, 1997-98

Phillips London: 16 April 2021
Estimated: GBP 30,000 – 40,000
GBP 75,600 / USD 104,250

Kenny Scharf – 20th Century & Contemp… Lot 219 April 2021 | Phillips

#19. Canyana Liquidoa, 1997

Christie’s New-York: 12 November 2021
Estimated: USD 25,000 – 35,000
USD 100,000

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958) (christies.com)

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958)
Canyana Liquidoa, 1997
Oil and acrylic on canvas, in artist’s painted frame
21 x 26 1/2 inches (53.3 x 67.3 cm)
Signed, titled and dated ‘Kenny Scharf ’97 Canyana Liquidoa’ (on the reverse)

#21. Krazy, 2020

Phillips online: 30 July 2021
Estimated: HKD 200,000 – 400,000
HKD 693,000 / USD 89,159

Kenny Scharf – 24/7: Online Auction Lot 20 July 2021 | Phillips

PART III: FOCUS

Record Breakers

Bonhams New-York: 19 May 2022
Estimated: USD 600,000 – 800,000
USD 983,175

Bonhams : KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958) City of the Future 2005

Travel Time, 1984

Christie’s New-York: 9 November 2021
Estimated: USD 300,000 – 500,000
USD 870,000

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958) (christies.com)

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958)
Travel Time, 1984
Acrylic and spray paint on canvas
72×96 inches (182.9 x 243.8 cm)
Signed and dated ‘Kenny Scharf 84’ (on the reverse)

Travel Time is a boisterous example of Scharf’s signature style and playfully merges his unique iconography with a raw background of spray painted patterning. Realized the year before Scharf’s inclusion in the 1985 Whitney Biennial, the present work shows the artist’s talent for bridging the gap between tagged train cars and gallery walls. Scharf’s ability to intertwine his own stylistic leanings with the uptrend of graffiti and street art in the 1980s cemented his legacy as a pillar of the scene and an inspiration for generations to come.

Emblazoned over the top of multiple horizontal lines of swoops and curls in loose, feathered paint, nine amorphous characters float, jostle, and squirm across the canvas. The largest figures, a green smiling face on the left and a purple face grimacing on the right, are angular and jagged. Their bodies are nothing but outlandish faces that float like crystalline amoebas in the compositional space while the viewer’s pareidolia transforms these bits of shape into fully-formed characters. Elsewhere in the painting, two rectangular cyclopes blast past like comets with trailing speed lines while an errant grouping of wobbly, jelly-like compatriots drip and drop amidst the chaos. Scharf’s work is often given over to a riot of color, energetic lines, and constantly moving forms, and Travel Time is a clear example of the artist’s ability to fill the entire work with an electric hum of action.

Works on Canvas

BIG GREEN MEAN SHEEN, 1983

Phillips London: 18 October 2025
Estimated: GBP 100,000 – 150,000
GPB 109,650 / USD 147,225

Kenny Scharf Modern & Contemporary Art Day Sale

“I am opening myself up to the unknown.”

New World Order, 1991

Phillips New-York: 15 May 2025
Estimated: USD 100,000 – 150,000
USD 120,650

Kenny Scharf Modern & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Morning Session

Kenny Scharf’s NEW WORLD ORDER, 1991, presents a hallucinatory vision of a parallel universe – one rooted in American consumerism and animated by a kaleidoscopic sense of Surrealism. Rising from the base of the composition, a bright orange tree twists skyward, its form equal parts fantastical and psychedelic, recalling cartoon dreamscapes. Tires — silkscreened with ghostlike precision — hover across the celestial surface like planetary rings or relics of the American highway. With a background of geometric patterns reminiscent of 1960s textile design, Scharf creates a cosmos saturated in kitsch, humor, and critique. Informed by his 1980s upbringing and steeped in the legacy of Pop art, Scharf blends the visual language of mid-century automobile advertisements, Saturday morning cartoons, and space-age optimism. His works frequently incorporate cultural touchstones such as The Jetsons and big-box brand names recontextualizing them in a postmodern ethos. Rather than parody, Scharf employs pastiche – melding high and low culture into a painterly style uniquely his own. The mélange of oil, acrylic, and silkscreen further reflects the artist’s navigation between the art historical canon and street art aesthetic practices.

NEW WORLD ORDER invites a reevaluation of what is natural and what is artificial in an era defined by media saturation and technological acceleration. The tree, although organic in its form, appears synthetic – both a symbol of nature and a parody of it. Scharf’s world is one in which reality unravels, collapsing the boundaries between the digital and the physical, real and reproduced. In this landscape, the tire acts as not only a compositional motif, but a symbol of the American Dream – a tireless drive towards the next frontier, whether terrestrial or otherworldly. Within Scharf’s cosmos, we are implored to question not what the world is, but rather how we’ve learned to see it.

JUDY JUDY JUDY…AKA JUDY INFINITUM, 2013

Hindman: 14 November 2024
Estimated: USD 70,000 – 90,000
USD 146,050

JUDY JUDY JUDY…AKA JUDY INFINITUM, 2013 Lot 10

KENNY SCHARF (American, b. 1958)
JUDY JUDY JUDY…AKA JUDY INFINITUM, 2013
Oil and acrylic on linen
48 1/4 x 60 1/8 inches
Signed K Scharf, titled and dated (verso)

The Jetsons have featured prominently in the work of Kenny Scharf, who grew up in the 1960s during the Space Age, fully immersed in television, science fiction, pop imagery and advertising. Coining the term “Pop Surrealism,” Scharf refers to his subconscious as being so saturated with media images that they manifest themselves in his art without his having to think much about content. JUDY JUDY JUDY …AKA JUDY INFINITUM, 2013 provides an excellent example of this multiplicity of images, the iconic figure of Judy Jetson swirling into infinity, receding into a surrealist landscape that knows no bounds.  A close friend of Keith Haring’s in New York, Scharf reached his mature style in the 1970s and 80s, at a time when New York artists aimed to break free from the confinement of the gallery space and art market, taking their work to the street in the form of graffiti and public art. Often describing his work as intentionally fun and joyful, Scharf works to create what he calls “anti-elitist art,” reaching the viewer through familiar images and ideas. Likening his work to our consumption of media, he said in a 1983 interview with gallerist Tony Shafrazi: “each painting is like changing channels.”

Coffee Klatch, 2004

Phillips Hong-Kong: 1 June 2024
Estimated: HKD 400,000 – 600,000
HKD 2,159,000 / USD 276,150

https://www.phillips.com/detail/kenny-scharf/HK010224/119

Rendered in a dazzling array of fluorescent colors, the present work is a significant painting by the American artist Kenny Scharf, hailing from his celebrated Flintstones series. Painted in 2004, Coffee Klatch places center focus on a familiar scene in the lower left quadrant, where the Flintstone characters Wilma and Betty are gathered together, engrossed in a conversation whilst sipping on their steaming cups of coffee. Derived from the German word “coffee gossip”, the title of the present work directly reflects the social culture of the 1950s. Coffee klatches have historically been popular amongst friends, neighbors, and community members as they serve as a way to build and maintain connections. As they are spontaneous and informal, these social gatherings are associated with a sense of warmth, camaraderie, and a relaxed atmosphere, as brilliantly illustrated by the artist in the present work. Upon closer inspection, Coffee Klatch presents a visual snapshot of a busy domestic scene – from the volcano eruption in the background as seen through the window and the sizzling pot on the kitchen counter to Pebbles snacking in her own crib. Rendered in precise detail, Coffee Klatch deviates from Scharf’s early style and raw energy, typically associated with graffiti and street art. Embodying a more refined aesthetic, this composition stands as a mature work from the artist’s oeuvre, solidifying what has become his own unique and fantastical style.

“I early on became really into these two cartoons, which was The Flintstones and The Jetsons. They’re really about the kind of environment that I grew up in, which is like a typical American suburban lifestyle. One was set in the past and one was set in the future. And I just responded to the idea of the past in the future and how it related to the present day lifestyle.”

In 2009, Coffee Klatch was featured as part of Scharf’s solo exhibition Kenny Scharf: Outer Limits at Patrick Painter Gallery. Four years later, the artist held a blockbuster show titled, Barberadise at Honor Fraser Gallery in Los Angeles, which encompassed a series of works with the combined elements of the stone-age Flintstones and futuristic Jetsons. This stemmed from the advice that Scharf had received from a close friend, which was to paint what he loved. What he loved were the cartoons of Hanna Barbera and he did exactly that. By incorporating these primitive icons into his artistic practice, Scharf imparts a sense of nostalgia and timelessness through his works.

Quark, 2021

Phillips Hong-Kong: 1 June 2024
Estimated: HKD 700,000 – 1,000,000
HKD 825,500 / USD 105,585

https://www.phillips.com/detail/kenny-scharf/HK010224/120

Larry Poons, Handmaiden, 2007
Sold by Phillips New York for US$137,500, 27 February 2019
Artwork: © 2024 Larry Poons / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

BLUD ‘N TAR, 2024

Christie’s New-York: 17 May 2024
Estimated: USD 120,000 – 180,000
USD 189,000

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958), BLUD ‘N TAR | Christie’s (christies.com)

Modern Messterpiece, 1985

Sotheby’s London: 7 March 2024
Estimated: GBP 150,000 – 200,000
GBP 190,500 / USD 242,620

Modern Messterpiece | Modern & Contemporary Day Auction | 2024 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

KENNY SCHARF (b. 1958)
Modern Messterpiece, 1985
Oil, acrylic and spray paint on canvas
84 x 108 1/8 inches (213.5 x 274.5 cm)
Signed, titled and dated 85 (on the reverse)

Radiating with whimsy and idyllic charm, Kenny Scharf’s Modern Messterpiece from 1985 stands as a testament to the artist’s distinctive Pop Surrealism style. Drawing upon the depths of the unconscious, Scharf seamlessly integrates pop-art motifs – an array of industrial, abstract and geometric offerings meticulously arranged across the canvas – with vibrant, abstracted tentacles interwoven in a kaleidoscope of colors. Expressive and exuberant, Scharf’s artistic production epitomizes the maximalist ethos of the 1980s, reflecting the era’s rampant materialism and culture of excess.

Against a backdrop of relentless commercial imagery, the Tanguey-esque vines depicted in vibrant hues of pepto-bismol pink, fluorescent green, and bright purple serve as a whimsical yet poignant reminder of the delicate balance between nature and human intervention. Art critic Glenn O’Brien astutely noted, “Kenny Scharf is the true heir of Surrealism; he shows where it went. It went to the movies, particularly to cartoons and the monster and cowboy-and-Indian films” (Glenn O’Brien, ” Kenny Scharf”, Artforum, March 1985). Scharf’s paintings, according to O’Brien, capture the psycho-social shifts of the time, prioritising play and exuberance over traditional notions of beauty. Indeed, Modern Messterpiece embodies this ethos, offering viewers a vibrant, visually stimulating experience that revels in its garishness.

Emerging alongside luminaries such as Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat, Scharf made a splash in the dynamic East Village art scene of the 1980s. His Cosmic Cavern series, famously constructed within the confines of his New York apartment, showcased his innovative approach to blending pop culture with surrealism. Throughout his career, Scharf has deftly navigated the intersection of high and low cultures, seamlessly marrying fine art with pop culture references, hieroglyphics with comic book aesthetics, and graffiti-inspired imagery with street art sensibilities. Modern Messterpiece stands as a testament to Scharf’s unwavering optimism and his ability to infuse profound themes with a sense of joy and playfulness. With its vibrant colors and intricate symbolism, the present work continues to engage audiences, inviting viewers into Scharf’s

Judy Butterfly, 1981

Christie’s New-York: 15 May 2023
Estimated: USD 100,000 – 150,000
USD 252,000

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958) (christies.com)

KENNY SCHARF (B. 1958)
Judy Butterfly, 1981
Acrylic and spray paint on unstretched canvas mounted on linen, in artist-appointed frame
Overall: 73 1/8 x 56 5/8 inches (185.7 x 143.8 cm)
Signed, titled and dated ‘Judy Butterfly Kenny Scharf 81’ (on the reverse)

An important early work by Kenny Scharf, Judy Butterfly depicts the cartoon character Judy Jetson from the classic 1960s American cartoon series The Jetsons. Painted in acid-hued tones of blue, green, pink and yellow, this psychedelic portrait flips the usual conventions of Pop Art; following in the footsteps of Warhol, Basquiat, and Haring, Scharf adapts and subverts their visual language as, when viewed under ultra-violet light, the painting’s surface takes on a whole other chromatic dimension. Judy became a central motif for the artist, and in the present work he transforms her from the archetypal sitcom teenage daughter, known for talking on the phone and going shopping, into a psychedelic butterfly, her signature platinum blond hair now a lime green. Scharf’s signature unique style enlivens Judy’s wings and lends a hazy, atmospheric quality to the scene. This texture is amplified by his choice of an unstretched canvas resulting in a unique surface topography. Scharf contains all of these unique media within his own chosen frame. Judy Butterfly is an inventive, funny, and slyly beautiful painting that represents the impetus of Scharf’s forty-year career.

Judy Butterfly is a fantastical landscape that embodies the magic of television. Judy’s multicolored wings are detailed with bold colors evoking a Wassily Kandinsky abstraction. Around her are volcanic rocks, but instead of lava or desolation, we have a delicate green plant springing up from the landscape. The spirals that frame the canvas are evocative symbols for Scharf.

“The spiral is easily understood as a means to other levels (worlds). For example: the tornado, the bathtub drain spiral…Galaxies are spirals. Suction—black holes? Spirals are universal in space, in nature.” 

Judy was important to Scharf’s early work, as was the evolution of technology represented in cultural phenomena like The Jetsons. In the same year as the creation of the present work, he even painted a DIY mural in New York entitled Judy in which the eponymous character floats like a genie. In this period, Scharf also wrote a wonderfully inventive essay about a new line of home goods that evokes the comical futurism of The Jetsons.

“Everyday experiences don’t have to be ordinary. Why not covert your routine vacuuming, TV viewing, radio listening, hair drying, air conditioning, telephoning, record playing, blending—every electrical task!—into something magical, spaced out, or just plain fun? Any appliance can be transformed”

Judy symbolizes this utopian phantasmagoria; she is a teenager who still has all the concerns of high school, despite riding to school in a hovercar, or being turned into a butterfly. Scharf’s manifestos mirror the Situationist International movement, which used public artworks to express solidarity with the demands of the May ’68 protests in France. They were known to use graffiti, with slogans like “I take my desires for reality because I believe in the reality of my desires.” As one of the leading figures of the 1980s New York art scene, Judy Butterfly sets the stage for Scharf’s boundary-pushing career that continues to surprise and engage. The painting takes seriously the tropes of pop culture, which Scharf gleefully remixes with his signature DayGlo colors. By foregrounding the conventions of street art and the downtown art scene in 1980s New York, Scharf argues for the inseparability of art and life. Judy Butterfly upends hierarchies and celebrates fandom as a legitimate source of artistic inspiration.

Curvabolatrap, 1986-1987

Phillips New-York: 27 September 2023
Estimated: USD 200,000 – 300,000
USD 247,650

Kenny Scharf – New Now New York Lot 44 September 2023 | Phillips

A rainbow of amoebic shapes squirm across the surface of Kenny Scharf’s Curvabolatrap, 1987, executed two years after the artist’s landmark installation at the Whitney Biennial. The work, with its psychedelic sense of color and nonsensical title, speaks to the playful energy of the East Village art scene in the 1970s and 1980s, of which Scharf was a key member. Like his contemporaries and close friends, Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat, Scharf leverages the exuberance and spontaneity of street art across his practice. In Curvabolatrap, Scharf’s curved shapes seem to swell to the edges of the relatively conventional, rectangular canvas, as if the energy of his imagination is about to spill onto the gallery floor and into the street.

“A Surrealist is using imagery from the subconscious, or dream imagery. My subconscious is full of popular imagery. I was growing up in the television age and barraged with the media.”

Scharf is a self-described “pop surrealist,” intuitive and inventive, with a subconscious “full of popular imagery.”ⁱ Early works by the artist, such as Love, 1982, feature recognizable characters from cartoons that the artist watched growing up, such as The Flintstones and The Jetsons. In the mid-1980s, however, Scharf shifted from cartoon characters to creatures of his own creation, albeit with a visual influence connected to the simplified, dynamic draftsmanship of cartoons and comic books. He emphasized the importance of shape and gesture in a 1985 interview, saying, “if my figures didn’t have eyeballs and mouths, they’d be abstract paintings.”

Yves Tanguy, The Look of Amber, 1929. The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Image: © National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Chester Dale Fund, 1984.75.1, Artwork: © 2023 Estate of Yves Tanguy / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Curvabolatrap, thus, speaks to the more abstract edge of Scharf’s painting practice. While tiny stick figures rendered in black paint occupy the only slivers of negative space in the work serve more as visual markers of the inflatable scale of the curving shapes, rather than major characters in a cartoon landscape. This treatment recalls the Surrealists’ play with optics and scale in their work, with tiny figures or shapes often used to illustrate the towering monstrosity of the rest of the painted vision, as exemplified in the haunting, fantastic dreamscapes of Yves Tanguy. Tanguy’s amorphous, floating shapes can be seen as the Surrealist ancestors to Scharf’s Curvabolatrap; as Scharf himself explains, Tanguy’s “forms in the landscapes connected with me at a very deep level. I love to see something that looks real and that you can touch and feel and yet is completely from the imagination.”ⁱⁱⁱ

The bulbous, bright shapes of Curvabolatrap further recall graffiti letters which, abstracted beyond legibility, can become more design than text. Scharf leverages cartoon and street art techniques of simplified forms and straightforward shading to create volume within the frieze-like space of Curvabolatrap; the interlocking shapes read even like a psychedelic, horizontal game of Tetris. Curvabolatrap is both playful and dynamic; self-aware, decorative, and indicative of a rich imagination shimmering just below the surface.

Heye Guys, 2020

Sotheby’s New-York: 19 July 2023
Estimated: USD 70,000 – 100,000
USD 114,300

Heye Guys | Contemporary Discoveries | 2023 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

KENNY SCHARF (b. 1958)
Heye Guys, 2020
Spray paint on canvas
40×40 inches (101.6 x 101.6 cm)
Signed, titled, dated ’20 and numbered #325

Kenny Scharf’s imaginative murals, paintings, sculptures, and installations are filled with vibrant, whimsical faces and fantastical creatures. In Heye Guys, these characters interact with a galactic backdrop, creating a visually dynamic and surreal experience. Scharf’s diverse artistic journey originated in street art and graffiti and has evolved to encompass various mediums such as painting, sculpture, performance, and fashion. He characterizes his distinctive style as ‘pop surrealism,’ which combines vibrant colors, bold imagery, and elements of pop culture, dystopia, and science fiction. The serial imagery and the iconic quality depicted in Scharf’s faces evoke the contemporary version of Andy Warhol, fusing the vocabulary of Pop and Minimalism with 1960s California TV culture.

As part of Scharf’s acclaimed MOODZ series, the present work was exhibited alongside approximately 350 other tondo face paintings at Jeffrey Deitch’s Los Angeles gallery in 2020. Collectively, the multitude of faces gave form to a population of moods, feelings, expressions, and colors. But close meditation on the single face of Heye Guys, with its bulbous nose, bulging eyes and off-centered grin, engenders a semblance of kinship between the viewer and the laughing face that cannot help but to brighten one’s day.

DR PURPLE, 2019

Phillips New-York: 19 May 2022
Estimated: USD 120,000 – 180,000
USD 302,400

Kenny Scharf – 20th Century & Contempor… Lot 125 May 2022 | Phillips

KENNY SCHARF
DR PURPLE, 2019
Spray paint on canvas mounted to panel
Diameter 60 in. (152.4 cm)
Signed, titled and dated “Dr. Purple Kenny Scharf ’19” on the reverse

“You know, I’ve been doing emojis before there was an Internet…It might be how I am feeling. Sometimes it might be how I think someone else is feeling. It’s a release. It saves me a lot of money on psychiatric [care]. I know it does.”

The present work in the exhibition Lio Malca Presents: Kenny Scharf At La Nave Salinas Foundation, Ibiza, June 15 – September 30, 2019, Artwork: © 2022 Kenny Scharf/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York 

Mareviva, 1998

Sotheby’s Hong-Kong: 27 April 2022
Estimated: HKD 2,000,000 – 3,000,000
HKD 3,276,000 / USD 417,495

https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2022/contemporary-art-evening-sale/kenny-scharf-ken-nisha-fu-mareviva-ma-lei-wei-wa

KENNY SCHARF (b. 1958)
Mareviva, 1998
Oil on canvas
48 1/2 x 78 1/2 inches (123.2 x 199.4 cm)
Signed, titled and dated 98 on the reverse

Mareviva by the self-proclaimed “Pop Surrealist”, Kenny Scharf, is an exemplary encapsulation of the artist’s fantastical visual universe. A contemporary of Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat, Scharf emerged in the 1980s New York East Village street art scene. Inspired by comic books and animated cartoons, Scharf’s canvases often incorporate popular cartoon characters such as The Flintstones and Jetsons, as well as imagined creatures in a vibrantly saturated colour palette. Firmly grounded in the imagery and symbols of mass culture, Scharf’s canvases contain infinite adventures through his post-surrealistic, futuristic imagination.

A vibrant painting of a sunset at first sight, Mareviva is full of playful imagery which oscillates between innocence and horror. The sun, embossed with moon-like craters, radiates brightly as animated clouds huddle around, their bulbous noses and wide-eyed expressions evoking familiar cartoons such as Frosty the Snowman. Below, bright pink sea creatures wade through the calm depths, whilst the dynamic waves of the foreground reveal frothy characters happily nested in their foaming bed, oblivious to their imminent crash. A tree on one side and an iron gate on the other, the slick, spidery branches gate the fantastical beach beyond. Hidden along the edges are cubic blocks carved with alien hieroglyphics, speaking of an impending end of times. Turning a sunset beach into an apocalyptic world of psychedelic fantasy, Scharf stages a Surreal spectacle of a distinctively Pop sentiment.

Krazy, 2020

Phillips online: 30 July 2021
Estimated: HKD 200,000 – 400,000
HKD 693,000 / USD 89,159

Kenny Scharf – 24/7: Online Auction Lot 20 July 2021 | Phillips

Krazy (2020) is emblematic of Scharf’s joyous, visually arresting oeuvre of highly animated faces, created in 2020 as one of his limited number of two hundred and fifty unique circular paintings of differing expressions. Displayed at his solo show, Kenny Scharf: MOODZ at Jeffrey Deitch in Los Angeles between 1 August and 31 October 2020, these kaleidoscopic faces of an assortment of sizes express the various layers of his own emotions: happy, goofy, angry or tired. Defining his style as ‘psychedelic conceptualism’, Scharf harnesses the spontaneity of spray paint, his dynamic gestures imbuing his work with a radiant vitality. The exuberant colours of Krazy are immediately eye-catching, the rich yellow and orange of the background contrasting with the cobalt blue and red that Scharf applies to the eyes and the outline of its toothy smile. The crazed, slightly grimacing countenance of Krazy is intriguing in its enigmatic nature, captivating and amusing the viewer with its energy.

Sculptures

Unique Surfboard, 2021

Phillips Hong-Kong: 25 May 2023
Estimated: HKD 450,000 – 650,000
HKD 406,400 / USD 51,871

Kenny Scharf – Disruptors: Evening Sale… Lot 353 May 2023 | Phillips

Kenny Scharf is a legendary American artist who was a pioneer in the iconic 1980s East Village street art scene in New York. Together with artists such as Keith Haring, Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, Scharf helped spearhead the aesthetics of the era, co-authoring arguably the most essential chapter in street art history by positioning it as an equal player on the contemporary art world’s main stage. Today, the Californian is widely recognized as one of the most important figures in the ‘Lowbrow Pop Surrealism’ art movement, which is characterized by abstract imagery merging with dreamy cartoon characters, and is rooted in comics, punk music, and graffiti and street culture. Like many other children growing up during Pop Art’s cultural boom in the 1960s, Scharf was greatly impacted by images of popular and commercial culture that permeated and shaped American collective consciousness. But, unlike other kids, Scharf’s interests went beyond clipping out photographs from magazines to stick on his bedroom wall. Instead, he found joy in finding expression on the streets, where, with a spray paint can in hand, he could share his unique, Day-Glo, psychedelic pictures with the public. In his works, Scharf employs a range of techniques, media and allusions to create hallucinatory compositions bursting with bright colors, bold patterns, and dreamlike metaphors, featuring a host of anthropomorphic creatures, extraterrestrial beings, and comic book motifs.

In 2012, Scharf decided to take his practice one step further by working on a unique partnership with Parley – a group and platform raising awareness about the major threats towards our oceans, which are the most important ecosystem of our planet. As Scharf explained, ‘I am obsessed with plastic in our oceans and I jumped at the chance to do anything with other people that are also sharing that obsession.’ Parley’s Global Cleanup Network has a special focus on protecting the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico where the group have been active since 2017, and where Scharf himself has spent numerous years.

Kenny Scharf x Parley, Surfboards, 2021 / Image/Artwork: © 2023 Kenny Scharf / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Scharf created a small group of only twelve individually painted surfboards, with each considered a unique composition that transcends the boundaries of conventional surfboards to become artworks in their right. The legendary surfboard maker Tim Bessell hand shaped each board composed of recycled material, which Scharf then used as his canvas to paint onto with variations of his neon, cartoonish grinning faces, which have been a signature of the artist’s work since 1981. The animated faces on each of these surfboards are replete with emotions ranging from jubilance to wrath, each deeply imbued with the artist’s signature aesthetic, and each possessing a unique character that tells a story. Composed of vibrant orange, the present work features a wide-smiling face with sparkling teeth and round green eyes detailed with black line. The imagined creature’s expression is one of joy and good humor, which metaphorically contrasts the underlying themes the painting also represents.

Raymond Pettibon, No Title (The bright flatness…), 2003 / Collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York
Image: © The Museum of Modern Art, New York/Scala, Florence, Artwork: © Raymond Pettibon. Courtesy of the artist and David Zwirner

The present work links the art practice of Kenny Scharf to that of Raymond Pettibon, whose paintings and drawings of surfing are also synonymous with the 1980s Californian punk scene. But whereas Pettibon taps into the theme by depicting surfers riding waves, Scharf takes it one step further by using the surfboard itself as his medium. By taking something considered a functional object and transforming it into an artwork imbued with meaning and emotion, Scharf creates a unique symbiosis between form and function, resulting in a unique work which can be enjoyed both aesthetically and conceptually. As a keen lover of the ocean, Scharf has been collecting plastic pollution from beach shorelines since the 1980s, often incorporating it into his art and art installations. With the present work, Scharf not only highlights the dangers of plastic and other human-made materials on our planet, he also innovatively showcases how art can be used as a means of creating impact and spreading messages about the importance of environmental conservation. As such, the present work is not just a product of Scharf’s artistic genius but is also a testament to Kenny Scharf’s artistic and environmental values and his ability to transform something mundane into something extraordinary.

Astro Cumulo Uber Express, 2005

Heritage Auctions: 23 May 2023
Estimated: USD 400,000 – 600,000
USD 435,000

Kenny Scharf (b. 1958). Astro Cumulo Uber Express, 2005. Spray | Lot #77039 | Heritage Auctions

KENNY SCHARF (b. 1958)
Astro Cumulo Uber Express, 2005
Spray paint, acrylic, enamel, and found objects on fully customized 1960 Cadillac Coupe De Ville
390 cubic in. V-8 engine with automatic transmission
Car is approximately 225 inches long x 80 inches wide x 54.1 inches tall
License plate: 60-CADI
Identification number: 60G100249
Mileage: 5,434 miles

One thing is certain: the world of Kenny Scharf is anything but boring, anything but beige. Pushing beyond traditional media, he projects his playful vision onto anything and everything, aestheticizing the everyday. In his 1998 book, Kenny Scharf and the Pursuit of Happiness, art critic Carter Ratliff observes that, “he [Scharf] encourages the hope that manic fun will, one day, evolve into happiness. Or perhaps, in some corner of a Scharfian landscape, that evolutionary leap has already been made.” To Scharf, every act in defiance of the bland is worthwhile, big or small, and there is always room for more fun.

Customization, an inherently personal practice, goes hand in hand with Scharf’s pursuit of individualism in a world pushing sameness. While his work originally responded to the homogeneity of postwar culture, Scharf’s message is perhaps more relevant today than ever before, as a new generation of young people face a sharply efficient consumer economy, rapidly cycling through seeing, liking, purchasing, and discarding. The pressure is not only to consume, but to consume all the same things in order to fit a given aesthetic. In Scharf’s youth, it was jocks, punks, and hippies, but today it’s micro-trends like ‘”cottage-core,” “granola,” “clean,” “old money,” “new money,” or “Y2K,” with all of the necessary items for each look conveniently pre-packaged on an Amazon storefront, linked in bio.

Scharf says no. No to rampant consumption and disposable culture. His early customizations, non-functional, imaginary machines, were made from discarded objects scavenged from the streets of New York. In his essay for Customizing Kenny, cultural critic Carlo McCormick notes that “the primary objects that make up Scharf’s high canon of lowbrow customs are born of the disused domestic appliances that he salvaged because he thought they looked cool and knew they could look even better.” Eventually, he shifted his attention to functional customizations – elaborately decorating working items without sacrificing their original utility. The Astro Cumulo Uber Express perfectly embodies this spirit: a functional machine turned into pure fun, a multimedia feast that is 100% Scharf. Coming from a generation disillusioned by stagnated dreams of space exploration, Scharf incorporates his favorite themes, visions of Jetsonian futurism, creating for himself the flying cars he was promised as a child.

Scharf’s composition on the Express honors the design of the Cadillac, itself a brilliant example of 1950s and 60s futurism, a relic from the golden age of fantasy in American design. The sides are painted to express movement, reinforcing the sleek lines of the car which give the impression of forward motion, even when still. The galactic designs on the roof and trunk produce an almost anti-gravity effect, and the feeling that speed has rocketed the Express into the stars. A firm believer that “too much is never enough,” Scharf covers every inch of the Express, even the interior, enhancing the existing details and highlighting areas that are usually overlooked. Some points, like the interior door latches, act as intimate little secrets, only seen by interacting the with car, reinforcing the point that the Express is meant to be driven, to be played with. A whimsical chariot guiding us through the everyday, injecting moments of fun and happiness into the lives of everyone it passes, and making the world just a little more Scharf.