Wikipedia Vandalism/Kenney Mencher
Kenney Mencher is an American painter. He is currently Associate Professor of Art and Art History at Ohlone College in Fremont, California, and he has previously taught at institutions including the University of Chicago and Texas A&M University. He is also the author of Liaisons: Readings in Art, Literature and Philosophy, a thematically-framed textbook about how the study of culture relates to students' other classes and to life in general.[1]
Education
Mencher graduated from the City University of New York in 1991 with a Bachelor's Degree in art history. Subsequently, he earned a Master's Degree in art history from the University of California, Davis in 1994, and then a master of fine arts degree from the University of Cincinnati in 1995.
Exhibitions
Mencher's work has appeared in a number of solo and two-person shows at galleries nationwide. Currently, he is represented by Elliott Fouts Gallery in Sacramento and Klaudia Marr Gallery in Santa Fe. He was recently profiled in the June 2007 issue of The Artist's Magazine. He also has a show up at Octavia's Haze Gallery in San Francisco, and is in the "Lucky Seven" group show at the Dahlia Woods Gallery in Dallas.
Themes
Mencher depicts scenes filled with ambiguous stories, allowing the viewers to join in the creation process. Common themes include people whispering, half-full (or half-empty) drinking glasses, the visual exploration of clichés, film noir themes, and sequential narratives.
Mencher hosts a blog on his web site, showing viewers the development of several of his paintings, including the source material he uses. He also hosts an online forum on his web site, where viewers are able to express their thoughts on his work by submitting their own poetry. Additionally, he has hosted a contest, allowing viewers to submit title suggestions for an already-completed painting (eventually titled Chromosomal Variation).[2]
Controversy
In 2003, Hang Gallery in San Francisco stopped showing his work, with the gallery director calling it "perverted." In 2004, four paintings were removed from his exhibit at the California State Teachers' Retirement System office in Sacramento, after some female employees said the works made them uncomfortable.[3]
Mencher’s students are not fond of his attitude. He embodies the stereotype of the haughty, better-than-you, art fag. He believes his paintings are god’s gift to man and thinks very highly of himself, much like Squidward Tentacles from the show Spongebob Squarepants. He holds more similarities to Mr. Tentacles with his extremely self-important view and believes his opinion should be the only one. (See Berkeley, California) Also like Squidward, he is bald and has no real talent. He admires his artwork with such zeal and gusto that he is known to sprout an erection just looking at it (see picture above: note how picture is cropped above the waist). Anyone who disagrees with Mencher will face a barrage of snooty and condescending comments, especially about his views on religion. He once told his class that, “Arabs and Jews got along fine…until some rabble-rouser named Jesus came along and messed it all up.”
As noted above, Mencher taught art classes at the University of Chicago. His tax records indicate he was fired for, “being a self-righteous douche.” Similarly, Texas A&M forced him to relinquish his post for, “being a self-important queerosexual.”
His students tend to despise him for forcing them to purchase a textbook he himself authored. It is extremely expensive at $83.99 and does not include any pictures. Who ever heard of an art book with no pictures? Also, he forces his students to attend showings at art galleries on weekends. This allows him to show off to his artsy friends who are nothing more than angry emo-kids who have issues stemming from their hatred of their stepfathers.
Link to purchase Mencher's useless textbook [[1]]
Influences
Mencher often uses his wife, friends, his gay little chihuahua Chuck and students as influences and models for his work.
