Artist’s statement
I have always been interested in how we humans define ourselves through color-coding, whether it be through costumes, uniforms, flags or even commercial alignments. As an artist, color is my realm of expression, yet outside of my practice, the world at large, too, employs color, using it for an array of social, political, and utilitarian purposes. As an artist interested in exploring the larger social narratives, I am curious to experiment with these real world devices and often rework them into my own creative contexts.
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My figures are commonly chosen for the colors that their costume or patterning might present as reflecting a similarity to certain schematic, social, or political motifs. I then create compositions with them that are provocative or suggestive of undefined or improbable scenarios. In this way, I am able to create open-ended narratives that engage current social issues.
In the triptych “Deporting the Red White and Blue,” I illustrate masked figures grabbing and wrestling groups of birds whose natural plumage matches the patriotic colors mentioned in the title. This rounding up of color-coded fauna is a reference to racial profiling. Through the work I ask questions: are we essentially deporting our souls away and failing to appreciate the larger connections within a finite world in this process of targeting those who come to America seeking a better life?
In “Vein Men,” I depict representations of the human circulatory system as figures-cum-animated ruffians, rounding up hapless snowmen. It’s not accidental that these figures have schematically colored red arteries and blue veins on a white background, in step with the colors of an American flag. Here the snowmen could be seen as lifeless, dehumanized punching bags or as ‘ICE-men’ getting their turn to be pushed around. The circulatory system figures, in turn, could imply the need for warmth or life, deep inside what might be an otherwise inhumane group of robots following orders.
Kenny Cole’s art can be seen as a part of a group exhibition American Grotesque at Zero Station Gallery, 222 Anderson St., Portland, through January 2026. For more information, see www.zerostation.com.
