Neil J. Kenney

Neil Jenney is an American painter and sculptor born on November 6, 1945, in Torrington, Connecticut, and working in New York City. He attended Massachusetts College of Art from 1964 to 1966. In 1966 he moved to New York City, where he continues to reside. He initially worked as a taxicab driver, and scrounged some of his art materials from dumpsters. His early artwork focused on interior environmental sculpture, but he found that his paintings were more successful in generating sufficient income. He initially painted mostly with acrylics in a deliberately crude style, but soon taught himself to do more-refined oil painting on wood panels; more recently, he has used canvas for his larger works. Since 1969, the artist has emphasized framing of his artwork, with various types of physical frames or with painted frames. He is interested in both the symbolic and physical framing of his artworks. His paintings often feature a stark dark-colored frame, with a stenciled title of the work.