Kenny Harris (b. 1974)

Kenny has been a fixture in the Los Angeles art scene since arriving in Venice Beach in 2001. He has made a career out of describing his environment both at home and abroad. He has traveled around the world depicting subject matter both grand and mundane.  Drawn to quiet subjects, his tonal palette and spare spaces evoke a calming energy.

Travel is a constant pull for this artist, and he has made bodies of work focused on Central America, South America, Italy, France, Cuba, Turkey, China, Ireland, and Russia, as well as the US and his backyard of Venice Beach.  He borrows from both modernism and classicism to achieve a naturalistic style full of grace balanced with formalism and urgency. Classical motifs are cropped with a modern eye; rendered forms are contrasted with palette knife scrapes and impasto.  His style and palette continue to evolve, recently focusing on still life with vibrant color.

A semester abroad in Florence was a formative time for him, studying Renaissance Art History and classical figure drawing at the atelier of Charles Cecil. He copied drawings at the Gabinetto in the Uffizi and drew in the churches.  Later he developed his tonal palette while studying under Frank Mason at The Art Students’ League of New York.  More recently he earned his MFA at Laguna College of Art + Design in 2017 focusing on portraiture. 

Kenny was a Professor of Painting and Drawing at Laguna College of Art + Design where his passion for painting inspired a generation of young figurative artists emerging in the Southern California art scene.  In 2025 he left teaching to return to his studio practice full time. He was awarded the prestigious Elizabeth Greenshields Grant in 2016. 

He currently shows at Billis/Williams Gallery in Los Angeles, George Billis Gallery in New York, Galerie Mokum in Amsterdam, and Koplin Del Rio Gallery in Seattle.

Solo Exhibitions

2026    Venice, Billis/Williams Gallery, Culver City, CA

2025    Passage, Galerie Mokum, Amsterdam, NL

2022 Painting Partners with Judy Nimtz, George Billis, New York, NY

2022 New Paintings, Galerie Mokum, Amsterdam, NL

2020 Ireland, George Billis Gallery, New York, NY
 
2018 Interior Worlds, Koplin Del Rio, Seattle, WA      

2016 Recent Paintings, George Billis Gallery, New York, NY       

2015 New Paintings, Koplin Del Rio, Culver City, CA

2014 Recent Paintings, George Billis Gallery, New York, NY       

2013 Kenny Harris & Judy Nimtz: Terra di Sienna—Paintings of Southern Tuscany,

         Koplin Del Rio, Culver City, CA      

2012 How We See: The Process of Observation to Realization (two Person show

         with Judy Nimtz), Barrett Gallery, Santa Monica College, Santa Monica, CA  

2012 Tuscany, George Billis Gallery, New York, NY   

2012 China, Koplin Del Rio, Culver City, CA     

2011 Normandy, George Billis Gallery, New York, NY

2010 Istanbul, Koplin Del Rio, Culver City, CA 

2008 Tales from the Road, George Billis Gallery, New York, NY

2008 Recent Paintings, Terrence Rogers Fine Art, Santa Monica, CA   

2007 Buenos Aires & South America, Gallery C, Hermosa Beach, CA   

2006 Images from the Old World, George Billis Gallery, New York, NY           

2006 Transitional Light, Terrence Rogers Fine Art, Santa Monica, CA   

2005 La Habana, Cuba, Gallery C, Hermosa Beach, CA     

2005 Sacred Light/Common Space, Terrence Rogers Fine Art, Santa Monica, CA

2004 Kenny Harris, Terrence Rogers Fine Art, Santa Monica, CA

2003 Terrence Rogers Fine Art, Santa Monica, CA

Selected Group Exhibitions

2024    Spring Showcase, Galerie Mokum, NL

2023    The Cityscape Show XIII: Close to Home, Billis/Williams Gallery, Culver City, CA

2022    Summer Group Show, Galerie Mokum, Amsterdam, NL

2019 Perennial, Koplin Del Rio, Los Angeles, CA

2018 Gesture, Prographica/KDR Gallery, Seattle, WA

2018 The Cityscape Show VIII, George Billis LA, Culver City, CA          

2017 Liberty, Koplin Del Rio, Seattle, WA         

2017 Intuitive Realities II, Q Art Salon, Santa Ana, CA         

2016 Identity-Method: Degrees of Separation, Koplin Del Rio, Seattle, WA                      

2015 Observing Observing (a white cup), Prographica Gallery, Seattle, WA                      

2015 New to Seattle, Prographica Gallery, Seattle, WA

2013 Wunderkammer, Koplin Del Rio, Culver City, CA                 

2012 Still Life: The Painted Image, Washington County Museum of Fine Arts,

         Hagerstown, MD

2012 Sublime, Koplin Del Rio, Culver City, CA 

2012 City Streets, George Billis Gallery, New York, NY                         

2011 The Buildings of New York, George Billis Gallery, New York, NY                     

2010 En Plein Air, Kings Art Center, Hanford, CA               

2009 Memories of the LA Billboard, Koplin Del Rio, Culver City, CA               

2009 Summer in the City, George Billis Gallery, New York, NY                       

2006 Artists For the New Century, Bennington Center for the Arts, Bennington, VT          

2005 In the City, George Billis Gallery, New York, NY                   

2004 California New Old Masters, curated by Donald Kuspit (catalogue), Gallery C,

         Hermosa Beach, CA    

2003 Urban Anatomy, Gallery C, Hermosa Beach, CA

Education

2015-2017           Laguna College of Art + Design, MFA in Painting

1992-1996           Colorado College, BA in Fine Art, Cum Laude

1998                    Art Students League, New York, under Frank Mason

1994                    Charles Cecil Studios, Florence, Italy

 Residencies

2023           Merci, Paris

2015           Borgo Finocchieto, Artist in Residence, Buonconvento, Italy

2013           Borgo Finocchieto, Artist in Residence, Buonconvento, Italy

2012           Monteverdi Tuscany, Artist in Residence, Castiglioncello del Trinoro, Italy

2012           Borgo Finocchieto, Artist in Residence, Buonconvento, Italy

2011           Borgo Finocchieto, Artist in Residence, Buonconvento, Italy

 Teaching

2023- 25          Associate Professor of Paintng & Drawing, Laguna College of Art & Design

2018 - 23         Assistant Professor of Paintng & Drawing, Laguna College of Art & Design

2006 -18          Adjunct Professor and MFA Mentor, Laguna College of Art & Design

 Grants

2016           Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant

2015-2017 Albert K. Murray Grants

Press

Art & Antiques, Nov/Dec 2025, “Discovered: The life of a Working Artist” by David Masello

Colossal, Aug 8, 2025, Experimenting with Color and Reflection, Kenny Harris Brews

            Beautiful Still Lifes, by Kate Mothes

American Art Collector, Dec. 2022, “Painting Partners” by John O’Hern

Artists Magazine, Jan/Feb 2022, "The Mysterious Everyday" by Daniel Grant

American Art Collector, Mar. 2020, “A Look Inside”

American Art Collector, Feb. 2017, “Place and Time”

American Art Collector, Dec. 2014, “Trapped Light”

Milieu Magazine, Fall 2014, “A painter’s eye: An inside look” by Donna Wilkinson

Epoch Times, Oct. 7, 2014, “Kenny Harris: Cityscapes with Current Context”

            by Wim Van Aalst

Fine Art Connoisseur, July 2013, “The Interior Worlds of Kenny Harris” by David Masello

ArtWeek LA, Oct. 21, 2013, “Kenny Harris and Judy Nimtz: Terra di Sienna—Paintings from Southern Tuscany”

American Art Collector, Oct. 2012, “A Fresh and Honest Look” by Joshua Rose

American Art Collector, Jan. 2011, “Le Quesnoy”

Poets and Artists, Oct. 2010, “Portals and Spaces at the Gloaming” by Grady Harp

American Art Collector, Nov. 2008, “The Art of the Roadtrip”

Whitehot Magazine, March 2008, “Kenny Harris” by Shana Nys Dambrot

Artweek, March 2006, "Kenny Harris at Gallery C" by Shana Nys Dambrot

Southwest Art, Oct. 2005,  "Chasing the Light" by Bonnie Gangelhoff

Angeleno, May 2004, "Domestic Scene" by Bettie Goodwin

Southwest Art, Sept. 2003, "Emerging Artists Issue: 21 under 31"