Apart from being a fine artist, Kenney Mencher is also the associate professor of Art/Art History at Ohlone College in Fremont and has written a culturally reflective textbook entitled: Liaisons: Readings in Art, Literature and Philosophy. His love for neo noir film stems from his childhood and was carried over into adulthood in the form of his artwork. Here Mencher provides insight for future art historians, various explanations for his artwork, and how he likes working with various Bay Area galleries that display his work.
NF: California College of Arts provides a MA in Curatorial Practice, an essential for an art historian. How do you feel a Curatorial Practice degree compares to a MA in Art History from a CSU or UC college?
KM: I actually have not really looked at those programs in any real depth. I can say that personally I’m not too impressed with some of the schools that are specifically oriented to just teach art or art practice. The students seem to live in a bubble created by the school and seem a little out of touch, as do the programs. I do think that a major reason why some people go to school at an art school is so that they can network and use the connections they’ve made to help further their career. I just don’t personally know anyone who this strategy has worked for.
I think that most curators/gallerists I’ve met don’t have degrees in curatorial practices. Just my opinion, but, I suspect that someone wishing to learn how to run a gallery or museum would be much better off getting some sort of degree in art history and business. For example, I would suggest, a double major as an undergraduate of art history and business with a minor in studio art, or an MA in Art History and an MBA.
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NF: You have MA in Art History and an MFA in Painting. What advice would you give to current art history majors?
KM: The reason why I did those two degrees was that I felt that I wasn’t learning to really think in my studio classes. I also did the two degrees because, aside from loving the learning process, I thought that it might help me to get a teaching job. Fortunately, that strategy did work for me and so I am able to teach art history and studio classes.
As far as advice for an art history major, study what you are passionately interested in. If you can’t decide, try looking into under studied fields such as Native American Art and Non-Western Art. Take extra and as many courses as you possibly can in all the fields and read like a mad person.
I would say that one of the best ways that they can learn and study is to do extra readings in the areas they are interested in. I also think that a wonderful new innovation in education is that a lot of college level instructors are now producing full lectures series on CD and DVD. “The Learning Company” has produced some really good series; a couple are Bob Brier’s series on Ancient Egypt and Kenneth Harl’s series on the ancient world. I think that viewing and listening extra lectures on CD and DVD while taking art history is a painless way of filling in many of the gaps that are missed in the traditional classroom.
Can't Go Back Now by Kenney Mencher
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NF: Can you explain your inspiration for your piece, ‘Can’t Go Back Now’? Are there any connections to that style and the man in the painting?
KM: I’m really inspired by old film stills and glamour photographs. Often a figure from a movie is so compelling to me that I do a drawing of it and then to combine it with another to try to create a kind of “thematic apperception test” for my viewers. The title is from a Weepies’ song that I really like and felt like fit in with the mood of the image.
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NF: Can you explain how your interest for Neo-Noir and Pulp paintings came about?
KM: These images really relate to my childhood in New York. My grandfather was a bit of a Bogart type of character and larger than life for me. He would dress me up in suits and let me slick back my hair and wear a fedora and go to his dress making business in Brooklyn with him.
On Saturdays and when I was home sick the only movies on during the day were old gangster movies and this really amplified my vision and my tendency to romanticize who he was. (He actually admitted to me when he was in his late eighties that he used to smuggle stuff when he travelled in the 40’s.) I also used to read Hitchcock’s anthologies of short stories like they were going out of style.
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NF: Do you find it difficult adhering to such a unique style as an artist, or are some of your pieces completely devoid of the neo style paintings?
KM: In terms of paint handling, color, and brushwork, I think I’m very consistent; I do depart from some of the content now and again. For example, occasionally I paint still life and or straight portraiture on commission or to keep my skill set in practice.
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NF: What do you feel is the benefit of portraying scenes from various stories within your paintings? For example, do you feel this gives the painting a larger connection with the viewer, leaving the viewer to decide what is going on in the painting?
KM: Yes exactly. I want the viewer to try to figure out a story. Almost everyone has a different idea.
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NF: What was your thought process for “Nocturnal Transmission?”
KM: “Nocturnal Transmission” started out as a black and white film still that I cropped and then reexamined with more intense color. I just thought the image was arresting and enigmatic. One of the editors at New Pulp Press must have felt that way about it too, because he used it as a cover for a reprint of Gil Brewers “Flight to Darkness.”
Nocturnal Transmission by Kenney Mencher
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NF: Your pieces, such as “His Fuse was Lit,” could be considered subjective, as they often depict nude women. Do you find a drive to represent this in your artwork seeing as noir films were often devoid of nudity or mild affection?
KM: Pulp fiction magazines and pulp novel covers did show this stuff. I’m taking it to its logical next step. I also find that it pushes people’s buttons on all levels. I started getting edgier with this kind of stuff after I got dropped from Hang Gallery in 2004 for being too “wry and perverted” and then I got censored for some really tame noir style stuff at the CalSTRS Gallery in Sacramento. There were a couple of newspaper features about this in the Oakland Tribune and the Sacramento Bee.
His Fuse Was Lit by Kenney Mencher
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NF: I read recently that you had or have some of your pieces on display at the ArtHaus Gallery in San Francisco. Are most galleries showing more or less the same when it comes to environment, handling of your artwork, etc?
KM: They are as different as the people who run the gallery. I’m showing with two super fantastic galleries in the Bay Area, Elliott Fouts Gallery in Sacramento and ArtHaus in San Francisco. Elliott and the two awesome directors of ArtHaus, Annette Schutz and James Bacchi really have my back. They are so hassle free that I don’t have to worry about whether or not my work will be damaged. They also really believe in what I do and sincerely like my work.
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NF: You wrote a textbook, Liaisons: Readings in Art, Literature and Philosophy. Was there a specific goal you wished for readers to leave with when they finished?
KM: Learn! The text is really a glorified “reader” that I stole most of the main ideas from University High School in San Francisco. I taught with two master teachers, Bruce “Doc” Lamott and Sudie Sides. I just wrote intro to each reading to provide context and clarify the ideas I wanted the students to walk away with. Each reading is something that all privileged private high school kids know when they leave high school. I’m just trying to level the socio-economic playing field by getting my community college students up to speed so they can compete with the wunderkind I taught at UHS.
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NF: What themes or subjects do you plan to focus on in your future work?
KM: I am working on a series of portraits that are made from vintage photo-booth images. I started by just making straight small oil portraits but then I started to think about who these people were and I wanted to give more clues to their identities. Now I’m combining the painted portraits with found and ready-made vintage stuff, like yo-yos, feathers, found notes, and drawings I’ve made. I’m going to invite some authors to make up stories about who these people are.
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On behalf of Northern Focus and Kenney Mencher, thank you for reading. For more information on Kenney Mencher and his artwork, please visit: http://www.kenney-mencher.com/
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