Kennedy Yanko works primarily with found objects and “paint skins.” Yanko engages with material with an instinctual approach to shape, colour, texture and scale. She transforms industrial materials (i.e. car parts, minerals like marble and other heavy-duty equipment) into abstract sculptures, using her practice as a vehicle to disencumber and re-contextualize the viewer’s understanding of the human condition through the use of items that are familiar, but then recontextualised to create a new narrative.

Since debuting sculptures part of a Derrick Adams-curated group show, Hidden in Plain Sight, Jenkins Johnson Project Space, Brooklyn (2017), Yanko has shown regularly at galleries and fairs domestically and internationally. Her work belongs to the JP Morgan Chase Collection, and the collections of Beth Rudin deWoody, and Helyn Goldenberg. In 2019, Yanko’s solo shows include Highly Worked, Denny Dimin Gallery, New York; Hannah, Kavi Gupta, Chicago and Before Words, Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts, Grand Rapids.