“I am honored and excited for this opportunity to show my work in such a large format and scale at MAM Shanghai for my first museum show in China." - Kenny Scharf

The exhibition showcases Kenny Scharf’s pioneering street art aesthetic and distinctive visual language. Featuring exaggerated faces and expressive forms, his work connects ancient pictographic languages and modern emoji culture. Long before emojis emerged to fill the emotional gap in digital communication, Scharf developed a visual language that captured the complexities of humanity’s relationship with expression and feeling.

The show includes paintings, sculptures, and other objects organized into groups of emotions: Anger, Disgust, Fear, Happiness, Sadness, an Awe. The exhibition provides the audience with a glimpse into emotional expression through art history, focusing on Scharf’s approach to this part of human nature.

The exhibition is curated by Shai Baitel.