ON VIEW: THE BALL

Marcus Kenney: The Ball

On View: January 27 - April 4, 2026

Reception with the Artist: Thursday, March 5, 5:30 - 8:00pm

Artist Talk: TBA 

The Ball is a suite of 26 collaged lithographs that feature illustrations of costumed characters from an Italian masquerade ball. The collection was created using techniques which are typical of Marcus Kenney's work, such as the recontextualization of found imagery and compositions made of striking yet irreducible elements.

Created in the style of Dadaist collage, Kenney repurposed a set of lithographed illustrations originally published in 1827 by Cucininello and Bianchi of the Royal Printing House in Naples. Masked figures, floating on antique stained paper, occupy theatrical, humorous, and often bizarre compositions. 

Kenney has titled this series of collages “The Ball” as a double reference to the masquerade ball depicted in the original illustrations, and also as a nod to German artist Hugo Ball, one of the founders of the Dada movement. Ball, in his “Dada Manifesto,” stated that the post-World War I art movement “alternated between coherence and absurdity.” Kenney’s simple yet provocative collaboration across two hundred years, between a forgotten Italian illustrator and a contemporary American artist, proves that “what’s old is new again, and what’s finished has yet to begin.” 

For the full press release, click here.