Growing up estranged from the Patois of my heritage, I came to see the kitchen, enlivened with the staccato rattle of dutch pot covers over a rolling boil and the damp, hot air holding aloft notes of burnt sugar and ginger, as my tether to Jamaica. As a child of the Five Boroughs, I grew to love the velveteen richness of spinach knishes, and the glacial crisp of peppermint dark chocolate as much as I do the unctuousness of "cowfootsoup".
Texture, flavor and heat are my work; washes of luminous pigment coalesce into vaporous fields of color imbued with references to my histories; one, generations-long in the Antilles and another burgeoning within the Five Boroughs. Through this interplay of motif and materiality, I’m building a visual Patois, a body of work through which I can triangulate myself between the Caribbean, New York and the innumerable cultures and cuisines yet encountered.
My latest assortment of paintings, collectively titled Rücken, are my effort to articulate the intimacy of moments shared with loved ones across various meals. This suite folds Hudson River School, and German Romanticism into the Patois to fashion paintings that instill the awe and drama both movements’ cloudscapes are so richly suffused with. Flitting between swaths of aether and bands of weathered striation, these compositions pay reverence to those I hold dear and serve as vignettes of the sublimity manifest in our moments of communion.
B. 1995, Crown Heights, Brooklyn
Education
2017
Bachelors of Fine Art, Cum Laude, Painting and Drawing, SUNY Purchase
Solo Exhibitions
2024
-figur, Cuchifritos Gallery + Project Space, New York, NY
Rücken-, Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery, New York, NY
2023
Heralds, Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery, New York, NY
Digest, Encounter, Lisbon, Portugal
2022
Postcards, Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery, Online Viewing Room
2021
Pairings, Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery, New York, NY
2021
Portions, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Queens, NY
2020
(5+1), POWDERFREEVACUUMSEALED, Online Viewing Room
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024
To Dust You Shall Return, COMA, Sydney, Australia
Passages, Encounter, Lisbon, Portugal
Mama’s in the Kitchen, Anat Ebgi, New York, NY
2023
Visible World, Halsey McKay, East Hampton, NY
The Death of Beauty, Sargent’s Daughters, Los Angeles, CA
2022
Like a Child, NADA Curated, Online Viewing Room
Books + Things, Helen J Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Faraway Nearby, North Loop, Williamstown, MA
Notes on Ecstatic Unity, OTP Copenhagen, DK
2021
Melrose, Harper’s, Los Angeles, CA
Friends + Family, Magenta Plains, NY
I Saw It Hang Down There, Bode Projects, Berlin, DE
Shining in the Low Tide, Unclebrother, Hancock, NY
Art Fair Presentations
2023
Independent NY, Klaus von Nichtssagend, Tamara Gonzales x Kemar Keanu Wynter
ARCO Lisboa, Encounter, James Collins x Kemar Keanu Wynter
2022
NADA Miami, Booth 1.05, Klaus von Nichtssagend
2021
NADA Miami, Booth 5.14, Klaus von Nichtssagend
Artist Lectures and Presentations
2025
Critiques / Visiting Lecture, Canopy Program: Tamara Gonzales, NYC Crit Club
2024
Critiques, Senior Thesis, Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, NY
2023
Critiques, Senior Survey, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY
Critiques / Visiting Lecture, Painting IV, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY
Workshop, A Survey on Sorrel: From Drink to Dye, Essex Market, New York, NY
2021
Visiting Lecture, Senior Seminar, SUNY Purchase, Harrison, NY
Bibliography
2025
“The Cultural Traditions Inspiring Four Black Artists”, Sotheby’s
Vogel, Maria Rose, “A Name to Know: Kemar Keanu Wynter”, Rococo Record
Urist, Jac, “Next Big Things: Kemar Keanu Wynter”, Galerie Magazine
2024
Mina, AX, “Kemar Keanu Wynter Shares a Soulful Meal of Art”, Hyperallergic
Mina, AX, “15 NYC Art Shows to See in October”, Hyperallergic
Musser, Amber Jamilla, “ArtSeen: Kemar Keanu Wynter: Rücken-”, The Brooklyn Rail
Roffino, Sara, “New York Forever: 5 Painting Shows That Prove the City and Its Artists Can Thrive No Matter What”, Cultured Mag
“Must See– Kemar Keanu Wynter: Rucken-”, Artforum
Boyle, Meka, “Group Show Summer”, Family Style
2023
Rafky, Isabella, “Kemar Keanu Wynter Cooks Up an Abstract Feast”, Hyperallergic
“Must See– Kemar Keanu Wynter: Heralds”, Artforum
Schwendener, Martha, “The Independent, More Inclusive Than Ever”, The New York Times
Palma, Mónica. “30. Mónica Palma & Kemar Keanu Wynter”, Correspondence Archive
2021
Poole, Julie, “For Brooklyn Artist Kemar Wynter, Caribbean Food is a Way Home,” bon appétit
Block, Louis. “Kemar Keanu Wynter: Portions”, The Brooklyn Rail
Naber, Nick. “Remote Studio Visit V”, The Coastal Post
Residencies
2023
Sharpe Walentas Studio Program, Brooklyn, NY
Artist’ Alliance Inc. Studio Program, New York, NY
The Macedonia Institute, Chatham, NY
2022
Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass Village, CO
Ox-Bow School of Art, Saugatuck, MI
2021
AQB AIR, Art Quarter Budapest, HU
AROS Public, ARoS Kunstmuseum, Aarhus, DK
100 West Artist and Writer Residency, Corsicana, TX
Awards
2022
Black Artists’ Fellowship, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass VIllage, CO
2021
International Residency Fellowship, Flux Factory, New York, NY
Navarro Arts Council Fellowship, Corsicana Artist and Writer Residency, Corsicana, TX
Public Collections
Art Galleries at Black Studies, University of Texas, Austin, TX
Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ
Academia
2025
Professor, Experimental and Foundation Studies, Rhode Island School of Design