KENNY SCHARF: SHIMISHIMIKAO!
NANZUKA Underground is pleased to present “ShimiShimiKao!,” a solo exhibition of new works by American artist Kenny Scharf.
May 30 – June 27, 2026
Kenny Scharf (b. Los Angeles, 1958), moved to New York in 1978 having been inspired by the work of Andy Warhol, and graduated from the School of Visual Arts in 1980. Thereafter, as a member of the 1980s “East Village Movement,” Scharf soon came into the spotlight together with fellow artists of his generation such as Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. In 1985, Scharf participated in the Whitney Biennial and also made his first visit to Japan that same year. He continues to work actively, recently presenting exhibitions such as “Jungle Jungle Jungle” (Almine Rech, Brussels, 2025) and “Emotional” (Modern Art Museum Shanghai, 2025). Scharf’s works are housed in the permanent collections of some of the world’s leading art institutions including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Today he is respected by many young artists as a pioneer who paved the path to the context leading to the trend of 21st century pop art grounded by artworks featuring signature characters.
The exhibition, titled after and centering on his latest series “ShimiShimiKao!”—literally inspired from the idea of “blobs (shimi) that look like faces (kao)—showcases 21 new paintings by Scharf. Also featuring works from the “MOODZ” series consisting of circular faces rich in emotion, and the ‘Dire Headlines” series, which incorporates newspaper clippings as a key motif, it presents a refined and condensed selection of works by Scharf, who has built an extensive career spanning nearly fifty years.
Scharf, who spent his youth in 1980s New York during the Cold War, has since consistently projected his sense of crisis regarding nuclear threats and environmental destruction into his work. While the “ShimiShimiKao!” series created for this exhibition is characterized by dynamic imagery in which various “faces” appear to proliferate in a manner reminiscent of cell division, it also includes works composed entirely of “blobs.” When confronted by these faceless “blobs” in their state prior to being animated by Scarf, we as viewers gain the feeling as if been drawn into the artist’s process of visualization. It seems that what is conveyed here is not merely a hedonistic attitude, but Scharf’s sincere desire to overcome a tragic reality through the power of imagination.