A is for America

Sydney Exhibition

kenzie — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 03:25:21 +0000

When Kenzie Larsen’s application for a Freedman Foundation Scholarship
was reviewed in 2009, the panel were unanimous in their opinion that
an ambitious project to cover each letter of the alphabet in a
separate country starting with Armenia, thereby producing twenty six
works of art, was unlikely to reach completion. Nevertheless, the
argument that she put forward was supported by a clear rationale that
indicated a sincere need to expand her horizons and although her
beginning in Armenia fell through, an inspirational trip through the
southern states of America provided an exploration into the myths and
legends that became the foundations of popular American B-grade
culture.

Pop culture became enthralled with the desert as a landscape for the
post war American avant-guard of the late 1950’s. Set against the
backdrop of space exploration that had already been the inspiration
for a bourgeoning comic culture, beat poets, film makers and rock
stars began to draw their own inspiration from concepts of alien
visitations and mystical ruminations that were invariably located in
Arizona. The desert became, and still is, the setting for films that
catalogue the struggle between the natural and the supernatural, the
familiar and alien as well as the romanticist space where good and
evil could be played out within a context of race, morality and creed.

It is little wonder that Kenzie Larsen’s journey from California to
New York revealed a rich seam of kitsch that continues to be developed
in her blog and travel diary “A is for America”
http://aisforamerica.wordpress.com/. This is a travelogue of an artist
who has delved deeply into her subject area to verify that popular
culture is just that, “popular culture” whether it takes the form of
depictions of American Indians painted on the blanched skulls of
cattle from Highway 61 or groups of animals preserved forever in the
taxidermist’s laboratory. A kitsch object can be identified as holding
little aesthetic value only if there is a pre-existing notion of
aesthetics and in this context, Kenzie Larsen’s work explores familiar
and sometimes sentimental themes juxtaposed against her own informed
sense of aesthetics.

Within the Freedman Foundation no other scholar or emerging artist has
ventured down the freeway that Kenzie has taken. Nashville, Chicago
and the iconic Memphis are mere names in an atlas of destinations that
mean nothing to one person, everything to another, but in the sights
of an artist, our perceptions are bound for change.

By Nick Vickers

Sport

kenzie — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 17:33:41 +0000

Yankees

Phil Hughes

Nick Swisher

Mark Teixeira

Francisco Cervelli

Eduardo Nunez

Derek Jeter

Curtis Granderson

Brandon Laird

We Went Like This

kenzie — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 14:41:37 +0000

And Then This Happened

kenzie — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 13:22:36 +0000

Chicago Puts Henry Darger On My Mind

kenzie — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 15:30:20 +0000

Even though it seems that everyone on the internet wants to blog about Henry Darger I will go ahead a blog a Henry Darger post anyway. Yes his story and his art are amazing and here are some of his pictures.

Highway 61 Revisited/ Visited

kenzie — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 15:02:10 +0000

I Sent You A Postcard

kenzie — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 03:46:01 +0000

A Book For A Place

kenzie — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 03:09:42 +0000

Road Trip Reading List

LA – “The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test”, Tom Wolfe and “Ham On Rye”, Charles Bukowski

Arizona- “The Bean Trees”, Barbra Kingsolver

Colorado- “Foxfire”, Anya Seton

Texas- “Interstate Dreams”, Neal Barrett Jr

Louisiana- “A Confederacy Of Dunces”, John Kennedy Toole

Mississippi- “Look Out Whitey! Black Power’s Gon’ Get Your Mama”, Julius Lester

Tennessee- “Kinflicks”, Lisa Alther

Indiana- “The Lost Astronaut”, Gus Grissom

Illinois- “The Adventures Of Augie March”, Saul Bellows

Ohio- “Travels With Charley”, John Steinbeck

New York- “Franny And Zooey”, J. D Salinger

Taxidermy Colorado

kenzie — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 15:08:32 +0000

On the way from Arizona to Louisiana we drove through a Colorado and a tiny piece of Texas, it was just enough to confirm that we didn’t really want to go to Texas.

On our very scenic mountain drive through Colorado we stopped at an Elk Jerky farm to take a few photos of the morbid and fascinating world of taxidermy and to sample some insanely good Jerky.

The Elk farm was stocked with piles and piles of Elk antlers, skinned foxes, stuffed elk and some alarming signage.

New Orleans, Holey Moley The Food!

kenzie — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 04:25:46 +0000

Guinea, Oyster and Rabbit Gumbo

Crab Stuffed Jalapenos, You Won’t Even Believe It

Fried Chicken