If you would like to leave a compliment, comment, or observation, you can e-mail me kmencher@ohlone.edu

I'll post your comment below!
kenney mencher
palo alto, california
studio visits by appointment
(510) 979-7916
kmencher@ohlone.edu

resumé
biography
add yourself to my mailing lists
homepage

 
just saw your "tutorial" on craig's list.
that was wonderful.  i'll never be a painter...just fantasize..
but i found that instructional so fascinating.
I'm amazed at your work.   Thank you!

Hello!
Came across your article and the painting you did from start to finish, and I was very impressed. I think you should write articles for The Artist and other art forums. It was very
instructive and inspiring!
 
I hope to be able to purchase one of your paintings one day.  Keep up the great work you do and keep writing these wonderful articles. They are needed.
 
Thanks!
Jane

Awesome, Kenney! You're becoming my favorite American painter.
The more I look at your paintings , the more I like 'em.

Bottom line: Great to see galleries filling up with terrific imagery!

You're at a plateau that I aspire to be at.  I CAN'T do what you're achieving.  The simplest themes elaborated upon like only a great painter can do. As if somebody walking by,  looking through a gallery window happens to see your paintings having an immediate doorway to step through. No matter who they are, how old they are, whatever language they speak, whatever culture they're born to-there it is.  From that point on abstraction, complexity, and keen emphasis begin. And you've got those aspects employed within the context of the individual paintings- such as windows and paintings within paintings, reflective surfaces and soul searching expressions on the subjects, to say nothing of the lights, shadows and those excellent compositions.

I tell my friends about you all the time. Seriously and sincerely,
Millard Sexty


Hi Kenney,

Thanks for the updates on your upcoming shows.  I look forward to seeing some of your newest work.  Looks great on the Internet photos.

Eduardo Lazo

Keep making marks in the art world by stepping on some toes.

Toby Tover-Krein


Came across the painting when I googled "scoutmaster". I am a scoutmaster
 and I got the idea in my head that I wanted to look for images of scouting
 that were done by those outside of the organization. I think that they are
 much more interesting than our somewhat propagandist art.
 Scouting has been rewarding work and I like to philosophize about it.

 The blindfolded, yet cheerful, scoutmaster is indicative of the optimism and
 at the same time the insularity of scouting. We talk authoritatively about
 ideals but often fail to recognize their relation to reality. As the scouts
 look on their expressions seem to indicate that they are ambivalent about
 what is transpiring: can we trust what is being said?

 With your permission I'd like to put the painting in my weblog
 http://scoutmaster.typepad.com/my_weblog/
 CAG


nice work i am very impressed.
great subject matter.
people need to see this.
i really enjoyed it.

Mellisa


I was so very impressed with your website and how you teach your classes.  I have spent several hours just browsing on your site.
The information is very extensive and I so enjoyed how you shared your information on how you paint and how you select your colors,etc.
I doubt that there is a better instructor available for the basics....color, etc.

It is good to know that there are such excellent artist/professors !!

After 20 years of corporate work, I am setting my goal on teaching painting at a junior college in CA.  So thanks for sharing!

Regards,

Susan Jo Paquin
BA Michigan State University, Art Education
MA Michigan State University, Painting and Art History

Very nice work

Timothy Field, Executive Director
San Diego Art Institute

www.sandiego-art.org


Thanks for sharing with me all this beautifull work, hope to see them soon
in Europe

David Ajami

Hello Mr. Mencher,

I just happened on to your website via Craig's List and want to
complement you on the "how I make a painting' page. That is a great,
clear explanation of how to build a painting.

I too work from photos, although now I am doing mostly photography,
but it is a pleasure to see someone so willing to share what he knows.

cheers,

Linda Hanson


Hey Kenney!

Love the work!  Love that I can purchase cards, etc.!!
Richard (my s.o.) was so taken with Zazzle that he is in the process of putting his line of cards on the site as well.
Let me know if you have any success with the site and I’ll do the same.

Hope this em finds you well and happy and putting paint to the canvas.  We are enjoying incredibly warm days and lovely nights here on
our island in Greece.

Anytime you need a getaway….come on over!!!
Many kind regards,

Ellen-Ann


Your work is exquisite!!
Madeleine Dubrovsky

I spent way too much time on your site ... I love your work.  And finally an artist who's honest enough to say he works from photographs as well !
Congratulations !

Gilberte.

http://gilberte2.blogspot.com/

Saw your work on CL. Nice stuff. Don't need your
class. But am always looking for teaching gigs. Any
openings there.

Best,
Chris
www.chrisleib.com


Hi Kenny,

Congratulations on your new show.

 Best wishes,

Jody Somerset
STELLAR SOMERSET GALLERY
539 Bryant Street
Palo Alto, CA 94301-1704
Ph 650.328.6688  Fax 650.328.6188
www.stellarsomersetgallery.com


(This one is in response to a posting I put on Craig's List wit the subject heading "Dirty Dirty Bad Artist.")

hi dirty,

your work is great !!!

no kidding !!!


Artist Guy wrote:
 Kenny, I noticed some folks have written "poems" inspired by your paintings.  I thought I'd share something I wrote today after seeing one of them.  Hope you enjoy it. Artist Guy

 

Closet, oil on canvas 36x48"
 Closet
Artist Guy
Tom, I’ve tried very hard to select clothes that don’t match yours.
Yes, I hated all those years growing up with the same outfits.
So you decided you liked brown, I went with blue.
Even though I really like brown too.
What’s that?  No clown, those are not my blouses.
I’m holding them for a friend; I mean, she left them behind.
Accident.
She just forgot them Tom.
I don’t know, women forget sometimes.
Yes, two or three of them, what’s the big deal?
Yes those are her pumps too, put them back in the corner, will you?
So she has big feet.  I never noticed.


 
Yeah, I guess they’re nice.  I mean she likes to dress nice.
Yes I think they look good on her.
Well, yes, she’s sort of a big girl.
Yeah, she kinda… likes to wear brown.
I don’t remember.  I mean, no!  I don’t know where she buys them!
…What?
Really?
How long?
Shit!


Well, switch to blue, dammit!


Great work Kenney!!! My favorite is "We've Always Done it this Way", it is an very intriguing piece. I bet all of us saw this painting have tried to dig into it but found something totally different! It is also very
skillfully painted, nice color rendering, great depiction of light. I also like "framed", "Platonic Ideals" and "Enlightenment" very much. Personally, they are philosophically challenging ; )

Not sure yet how to approach "Criss Cross" intellectually, I really like the color. It is one of your better pieces (color-wise) in my humble opinion.

James

 Very nice, your stuff has not only a vast amount of tragedy, but also a levity that contrast well.  I hope you come to Philly I'd like to get a closer look.
Jim Ackley

Awesome!  Your work is really maturing, and becoming  finely honed!
 Miss ya and love ya!

 Vicki


Your concrete facility at handling paint (that is, technique as such) has grown steadily better over the years, Kenney.  These works possess a finished
 quality that is quite impressive. Realistic painters (unlike abstractionists) are absolutely out in the open--the image is either persuasive or it is not,
 and even average persons can judge this at a glance.  What is unsual is your placing large themes dead center--the risk of sentimentality runs high,
 but an effective image can restore the same high impulses that dominated art before it came unglued (sadly) in the 20th century, a century no one
 will ever remember for its art.

 Bill

Hi Kenney,

 My favorites:

 "We've Always Done it this Way": I see political commentary. Perhaps a little obvious, but only one step is obvious: blind leading the blind. But what
 does the metaphor apply to? And that's where I'm reading in a political message, perhaps.

 "Enlightenment": Nice double entendre. How many models does it take to change a light bulb? I'd have called it, "Hospital Administrators", but hey,
 that's just me.

 "Framed": cool title, interesting composition, fun image.

 "Criss Cross": Homo-erotic art in the Bay Area? It'll never sell!

 Hope you and Val are doing great. And the pets.

 Best,

 Doug

 http://dshoffman.blogspot.com


Hi Kenney,

I've been meaning to ask you this for a while now . . . Anyway, today,  looking around for another painting of yours to highlight on my blog, I  again noticed that you really seem to be into whispering lately.

Doug
 http://dshoffman.blogspot.com
 

Hey Doug,

Shhh. . . Don't tell anyone and I’ll tell you.

When we were kids, remember the kids who told secrets but you were left out?  Or maybe you were one of the whisperers yourself?  What was so important that they felt they had to keep it a secret but at the same time make sure that you knew they had a secret that you were excluded from knowing?

Some kids became angry that the other kids were whispering.  Some kids reacted by whispering to someone else.   Other children just ignored them.  Teachers and other adults might censor those doing the whispering or indulgently or even pointedly ignore them.

Not being a child anymore doesn’t mean that I don’t wonder.  I love to watch people in restaurants, in movies, on the street, and fantasize about what they are talking about.  Whispering is a way of communicating and not communicating.  It’s a paradox.  In my paintings, the whispering people are meant to make you wonder what they are whispering about and if you are paranoid about it, it’s your own fault.

Kenney


 

Ok, I'll come clean.  I have to admit to not liking the subject matter of the bulk of your recent work (and your mailings, which I always read and enjoy receiving, have allowed me to see a change).  That is to say,  I still admire your artistry and love the retro-like subject matter of  the occasional paintings such as "jimmy the obscure" (love that!) and  "rooftop recital" (though not your best rendering), but I'm put off by  the in-your-face nudity and the  mocking-sexism-that-is-still-prone-to-appeal-to-the-misogynist-who- doesn't-realize-this-is-mockery.  Your work is your work and it's of  course none of my business, but for the most part your recent  nudity/sex/satire phase is just not my cup of tea.  I speak out of turn  only because your mailings seem an invitation to respond to the work,  something I've neglected to do for a while because I was hesitant about being critical of someone so hard-working.  I hope you take this as honesty coming from a silly old-fashioned friend who knows little about contemporary art -- and one who still loves the artist but simply hopes he'll return to painting more of the stuff she initially admired so.  I  miss the old kenney mencher!

Actually I miss you period.  When might you guys venture this way?

Love,

Janine

Dear Janine,

I totally understand your point of view about the paintings.  I actually assumed that you felt exactly as you expressed in your letter.  Don't worry about that if you are.  You don't have to love the new work just keep being a friend.  I actually love the way you've expressed your ideas about the paintings and so I'm going to save your letter for when I get my Guggenheim retrospective.  My next series of paintings are more about bad jokes, puns, and proverbs:


Enlightenment, oil/canvas 22x28"
(click image for a large version)

Kenney -

Imagine my surprise when I was flipping through an art magazine on the plane the other day (I think it was the latest "Art In America" magazine) and saw A KENNEY MENCHER PAINTING!  It was like finding a familiar face in a crowd of strangers.  It was quite a thrill for me to see your work along side the stuff from the snooty New York City galleries, but of course I think that your art is much better than theirs anyway.

I had a cocktail party at my house last weekend, and as usual everyone was ooh-ing and ahh-ing over your paintings, and of course the paintings inspired conversations about old movies and film noir and sam spade and young paul newman and streetcars named desire.  Great conversation starters.

Anyway...  Good luck with the show!

Take care,
Mark