Shane Kengo Kennedy

Shane Kengo Kennedy Growing up in a bilingual multicultural household and moving back and forth between Chicago and Osaka has been the most formative factor in how I approach artistic creation. Witnessing the numerous idiosyncrasies in both cultures which often were contradictory encouraged me to look at art as a universal language and form of expression. 

Language has often been said to be the lifeblood of a civilization, revealing an amalgam of truths, good and bad, moral and immoral, subjective and objective. My work focuses on exploring how society is shaped by the infinitely complex world of language, and what hidden truths can be made visible. I like to think of my finished work as assemblage art regardless of the medium due to the massive number of inspirations, knowledge, and chance that is assembled into a single cohesive piece. My current works can be seen as a direct challenge to how we define progress and value, using imagery, text, and installation to engage the viewer in an area of discourse which is not openly discussed in everyday life, but exists nonetheless. Due to the interactive nature of language, my works themselves are also intended to be strongly engaging and interactive, challenging the viewer to engage with their preconceptions, realizations, and instincts.