Words and Photos by Raul Barquet
- May 11, 2019
- 1 min read

The Raul Review: Kenny Scharf's Blue Blood at TOTAH

Kenny Scharf’s Blue Blood opened Saturday, May 4th at TOTAH in the Lower East side. This exhibition constructed in only red, grey, and blue, has everything one would expect from a series of paintings by Scharf. From alien faces to anthropomorphic plantlife the subjects of Scharf’s paintings stretch, bend and skew over textured backgrounds bringing to mind galaxies and nubulae in the farthest reaches of space.

One mixed media painting depicts the big bang illustrated with spermatozoa, while several others take aim at environmental issues, incorporating screen printed text speaking about global warming and fossil fuel emissions. Creation and destruction appear alongside each other swathed in a cold, dreary palette that feels solemn and foreboding.

In true Kenny Scharf fashion the basement was transformed into a luminescent nightclub. This installation is the latest in a series of “Cosmic Caverns” dating back to 1981. Flourescent spray paint adorned the black walls while black light illuminated the darkness, calling back to the artists experience in New York City in the 1980’s exhibiting at spaces like Club 57.