Kenrick McFarlane: SKIN + MASKS, Kavi Gupta | Elizabeth St.

Kenrick McFarlane (b. 1990, USA) is a figurative oil painter whose work explores the psychological inner experience of the individuals he paints. McFarlane has spoken about the masks that people wear around each other, and even with themselves, which prevent us from connecting with our own, or each other’s reality. His paintings offer a glimpse of the inner world of his figures in situations where they are allowing themselves to be vulnerable. 

“When the masks come off, we’re all maybe the same,” McFarlane says. “We can take a moment and not be a character and explore that individuality. i’m pushing that in my art.” 

McFarlane’s navigation of this liminal space results in frequent visual and conceptual contradictions. His figures seem to have been captured in casual moments, as if caught by surprise. Their presence exists outside of, or in a state of indifference towards, the gaze of the viewer. Conversations about race, sexuality, and gender are often addressed in the work, as are issues related to representation, art history, and notions of beauty and vulgarity. Most important to McFarlane are the ways his subjects slough off superficialities in order to attain moments of intimacy and candor. 

“Day to day we’re living our lives on the exterior,” McFarlane says. “I’m interested as a painter in the times we have truthful conversations with ourselves and others who are comfortable being with us with our mask off. Maybe you’re having existential questions. That’s where my practice is at the moment.” 

McFarlane received his BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is an MFA candidate at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). His debut solo show, Face Off, was at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago. He has received the Rebuild Painting Fellowship from the Theaster Gates Rebuild Foundation, and completed a residency in Johannesburg, South Africa. McFarlane was selected by Kerry James Marshall to participate in the exhibition Eclectic Coherence, curated by Dawoud Bey, at Expo Chicago. He lives and works in Los Angeles.