Influential artist, Brian Kenny is making his mark on France—literally.

Photographs by Brian Kenny

Brian Kenny&nbsp;(<a href="https://www.instagram.com/briankennny">@briankennny</a>) will draw on paper. He will draw on walls, doors, and windows. He will draw on himself. He will even draw on you &ndash;&nbsp;his thoughtful imagery leaves lasting impressions on viewers&#39; minds. The German-born, New York-based artist&nbsp;works with all mediums ranging from painting, textile, video, and performance, but his favourite is drawing.

Kenny&#39;s induction into the professional art world began in 2004. He was tired of the mundane &ndash; the beige, corporate life he was leading. He needed colour and found it within a fellow artist who eventually became the love of his life, Slava Mogutin. He moved to New York City where he immediately started collaborating with other artists.&nbsp;

&quot;I fell in crazy in love with Slava and creative living,&quot; Kenny said. &quot;I drank the Kool-Aid! I ate the forbidden fruit! I&rsquo;ve never looked back. It was glorious.&quot;

He is attracted to work that is introspective while simultaneously makes an outward, important statement, like Gio Black Peter. However,&nbsp;he finds&nbsp;inspiration everywhere&nbsp;and so his artwork is displayed that way. &quot;I&rsquo;m a big fan of making it all up as I go, and so I like to use my immediate surroundings, materials and current events or zeitgeists for inspiration in my art-making,&quot; said Kenny.&nbsp;

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And, at the&nbsp;Love My Way&nbsp;festival in Hy&eacute;res, France, which is hosted between April 25 to May 26, his artwork is everywhere.&nbsp;His art is thought-provoking and he often uses autobiographical themes to reach a larger audience - through his work, he touches on gender and sexuality with the hopes of exposing viewers to different ways of thinking about&nbsp;these issues.

He is opening the festival by painting himself in front of an audience. The festival will be hosted at Villa Romaine &ndash;&nbsp;an estate decorated by flowered walls and guarded by tall Cypress trees,&nbsp;a &quot;slice of heaven,&quot; according to Kenny. He is adding to that divine space by adorning certain surfaces with his illustrations.

Drawings of the Statue of Liberty, squirrels, pinecones, hummingbirds, cacti, Cypress trees,&nbsp;and even Kenny himself welcome over the 100 other artists and several attendees.&nbsp;

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If you could describe your art in three words, what would they be?

Expressionistic, Queer, Maximalist.

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You use an array of mediums to create art. Do you have a favorite?

Drawing. Everything began with drawing. Every project starts and builds upon drawings. It&rsquo;s my comfort zone, my dance floor.

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How do you use art to comment on controversial and important social issues?

Art is a great way to be progressive and outspoken because (most) people automatically understand and accept art as a place to present new or unusual ideas and perspectives. People are just more receptive to whatever it is you want to express than&nbsp;in other contexts, so I feel encouraged to exploit that opportunity and help move us all forwards.&nbsp;

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You created designs for t-shirts for Adam&rsquo;s Nest, images of animal heads atop male and female bodies. How do you connect art and philanthropy? Can you explain that specific endeavour?

There&rsquo;s no better way to help your fellow neighbour than through your own talents. I&rsquo;ve been very lucky and fortunate to become an artist and I so actively accept many opportunities to pay it forward to others using my skills. I firmly believe that your health and well-being is also my health and well-being. Separateness is superficial and illusory, our unity is a fundamental truth. Do what you can.

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You have a background in commercial work in fashion, do you have a favourite collaboration? If so, why?

Every collaboration is unique and interesting in its own way, but I truly loved my collaboration with Maison Christian Lacroix. It was a total joy to work with their creative director, Sacha Walckoff, a great designer and art collector in his own right, and his team at Lacroix. They gave me complete freedom and trust to create whatever I wanted, and because our artistic sensibilities align, for the most part, the result was an easy success.

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Do you have any exciting projects that you&rsquo;re working on?

Yes, after the big festival in Hy&egrave;res, I&rsquo;m going to Dallas to paint my biggest mural yet! The city teamed up with a nonprofit LGBT initiative, Arttittude, and commissioned me to create a massive 105-foot mural celebrating the original transgender activists present at the Stonewall riots, Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera. I&rsquo;m thrilled and honoured to help increase trans visibility through my artwork. They are a severely under-served community that still faces appalling discrimination worldwide and absolutely deserves more love and attention.

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What are you most looking forward to while attending the Hy&egrave;res Festival?

I&rsquo;m very excited about performing at the opening of the main group art exhibition &ldquo;LOVE MY WAY.&quot;&nbsp;I will be body painting myself in my underwear and making a freehand mural live. Think war paint meets pep rally meets Keith Haring.

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(Swipe gallery below to see some of Brian&#39;s works)

What is the theme of the exhibit &ldquo;LOVE MY WAY&rdquo;?

The theme is exactly that; love my way. Visions of love, particularly queer love, from each artist. It&rsquo;s a massive, decadent exhibition featuring well over a 100 hundred fantastic artists including masters like Robert Mapplethorpe, David Hockney, Pierre et Gilles, Pierre Molinier, Jean Cocteau and Nan Goldin.

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What are some takeaways you think the attendees of the exhibit will leave with? 

I imagine that viewers will experience an invigorating and more expansive notion of love and community. There&rsquo;s an overwhelming amount of beauty in this exhibition, not only in the artwork being shown but also in the gorgeous villa hosting the show.

Interview: Brian Kenny is not afraid to draw outside the lines

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