Kenny Rivero, Witness Revelator, 2024; Limited Edition Print
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Kenny Rivero’s paintings, collages, drawings, and sculptures explore the complexity of identity through narrative images, language, and symbolism. His creative process deconstructs and reimagines what he perceives to be the broken narratives of Dominican-American identity, socio-geographic solidarity, familial expectations, race, and gender roles. Born in Manhattan’s Washington Heights neighborhood and currently based in the Bronx, Rivero cites the hybrid qualities of salsa, hip-hop, house music, jazz, and merengue—as well as Vodun and Santeria, which were present in his daily life while growing up—as core influences. The artist has work in a number of public collections, including that of the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR; Pérez Art Museum Miami, FL; and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY.
In Witness Revelator, a figure appears to run or emerge before a concrete brick wall, while a shadowy presence looms behind him. Donning a long, starry cape that drapes over both subjects, this spirit-like character appears to watch or preside over the man in the foreground. Though sparse and non-specific, the setting references both the urban landscape of New York City, as well as Rivero’s familial homeland in the Dominican Republic. Witness Revelator stems from a body of work that recalls a sense of fear—first internalized by the artist as a child growing up in a neighborhood that was disproportionately affected by street violence and the crack epidemic—while also representing the resilience of his cultural community.
Kenny Rivero
Witness Relevator, 2024
Archival Pigment Print
23.25 x 20 inches
Limited edition of 10
Hand-embellished, signed and numbered by the artist
Limited edition of 20
Signed and numbered by the artist
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