Kennedy Yanko

Kennedy Yanko (born 1988, St. Louis, Missouri) is an American sculptor known for her hybrid works that combine salvaged metal with paint skin to create dynamic, materially complex sculptures. Her practice investigates the relationship between strength and vulnerability, permanence and fluidity, often using industrial scrap metal alongside thin sheets of dried acrylic paint that she refers to as “paint skins.” These elements are folded, draped, and suspended to create forms that blur the boundaries between painting and sculpture. Yanko’s work explores the emotional and symbolic possibilities embedded in materials, particularly those that carry histories of labor, industry, and transformation. The heavy steel structures she employs suggest endurance and rigidity, while the delicate, malleable paint skins evoke softness, movement, and fragility. Through this interplay, her sculptures examine the tension between control and release, inviting viewers to consider how physical materials can embody psychological and emotional states. Her approach to abstraction is deeply informed by process. Yanko allows chance, gravity, and the physical behavior of materials to guide the development of each piece, producing sculptural forms that feel both intentional and organic. The resulting works often resemble draped fabric, geological formations, or bodily gestures, creating a sense of movement and presence within static objects. Yanko’s work has been widely exhibited in galleries and institutions internationally, and she has become recognized for expanding the language of contemporary abstraction through sculpture. She lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.