San Francisco, CA - California-based artist and art history professor Kenney Mencher knows what it’s like to be at the center of controversy stemming from his artwork.  Although Mencher does not intend to upset, past controversy has indeed buttressed the proof of his success at probing the unconscious with oil on canvas.  These provocative slice-of-life paintings in a Realist style always tell a story with cryptic scenes, requiring viewers to dream up their own interpretations.  This challenge prompts the question of who is bringing controversial notions to the party—the viewer or Mencher.  He makes a point, but deftly balances this with viewer imagination, humor and mystery.  

“You can tell an awful lot about a person by the stories they make up when looking at my paintings,” says Mencher.  “I think of my paintings as a kind of ‘commedia del arte’ in paint.”  Influenced by film, comic books, illustrators such as Rockwell, Wyeth and Howard Pyle, and pulp novel cover art, Mencher approaches paintings like a puzzle that screams to be solved.  Working on several themes at once, he ties them together with a strong narrative and a bit of humor too.  Kenney has shown extensively in the US for the past 20 years, but Lovers & Liars marks his first showing at Varnish Fine Art.  On exhibition January 14 – March 1, 2008.  Opening Reception January 18, 7-10pm.

Gallery Directors Jennifer Rogers and Kerri Stephens opened Varnish Fine Art on April 19, 2003.  Beginning with the remains of a brewery built just after the 1906 earthquake, Rogers and Stephens designed and rebuilt the space, including a main gallery, mezzanine gallery and wine bar, combining gallery with community.  
 
Visit Varnish Fine Art - 77 Natoma Street - San Francisco, CA 94105 - T.415-222-6131- www.vanishfineart.com