For artist Kenny Scharf there is no day off, not even Sunday. “I wake up really early. It's still dark outside,” says the Los Angeles native.
Getting up before the sun anchors your active day. “I always have to keep moving,” says Scharf. “Otherwise, I will become very depressed.”
Scharf, 67, an avid hiker and swimmer, also maintains a disciplined yoga practice and bikes daily from his home in Culver City to his studio in Inglewood. Almost everything there serves as a canvas, including the painted trash that also serves as decoration and the screen-printed couch he is sitting on.
In Sunday Funday, the people of Los Angeles tell us step by step their ideal Sunday in the city. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.
“I don't like to waste good screen printing paint and ink. Why wash it? We apply it everywhere until it's gone,” says Scharf.
Scharf, who grew up in the Valley before coming to New York City, first gained recognition in the East Village art scene of the 1980s alongside his friends and contemporaries Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring, his former roommate. The trio also befriended Andy Warhol, who predicted Scharf's fame.
Recognized for his self-coined “pop surrealism,” Scharf often populates his bold, colorful work with cartoon smiley faces, springy masses, and sci-fi creatures floating through cosmic landscapes. Behind this joy lie anxieties about overconsumption and environmental degradation.
Like their creator, Scharf's works are always in motion, whether rolling down the street in the cars he has painted (which appears in his recently published book). “Karbombz!” – or travel to upcoming exhibitions in Wuhan, Tokyo and Paris.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for length and clarity.
5:30 am: Wake up and feed the cats.
My cats, Cutie and Socks (one is a tabby and the other is a tuxedo cat) wake me up by meowing and walking on me. They say, “Hey, I'm hungry.” Then I get up and open the cans. They like that disgusting, smelly canned food. And then they go out to the patio.
I got the cats because I went to New York for a show. I was gone five days and I live next to a park, so there are a lot of animals. I came back and my entire house was invaded by mice. I thought, “What the hell am I going to do? I need cats.” The mice are gone and now I have these cats. They are so cute and so much fun. They take over my life.
6am: detox
I make lemon and hot water. It is a good way to start the day and eliminate toxins. Right now I have a lot of citrus trees because Ed Ruscha's studio is in front of my house, and in the back of the studio he has a citrus farm. I go there, especially this time of year, and buy bags of citrus. It's like a farming community in the middle of Los Angeles. I love Los Angeles because you can surround yourself with trees and gardens and pretend you're not living in a giant metropolitan area.
8:30 am: Iyengar yoga
An Iyengar yoga instructor comes to my house. I think Iyengar is great for aging. You use ropes and gravity to hang and do different things, using your body weight to help you relax into the positions. I also have a swing to get on my tummy. When people walk into my living room, they say, “What's going on here?” by the ropes on the wall.
In summer I will go to beach in venice and swim in the ocean. It's wonderful when I'm in the water. It's cathartic and cleansing, and sometimes I see dolphins. I'll go early in the morning before the crowds arrive.
11:30 am: Mar Vista Farmers Market
It's fun to go there with my daughter Zena, who is a chef, and my grandchildren. We walked around and got food. All the food stalls are delicious. I grew up here in Los Angeles, so I like Mexican food. I don't really want to eat American food. I don't like hamburgers. I want everything related to culture. I like hot and spicy.
I also buy apples and berries, everything I can't grow, because I grow my own food at home.
And I buy things from an Indian who sells Chyawanprash, which is a kind of jam. It's really concentrated and like an elixir. They also sell Shilajit, which almost looks like tar. You put a little bit under your tongue and it dissolves, and it has all the minerals in it.
2:00 p.m.: Painting in the studio.
I paint seven days a week, but I love coming here on Sundays because no one is there and the phone doesn't ring. Sometimes my granddaughter Lua comes. She paints. Upstairs in the studio I have a small painting area with easels for my grandchildren, but my grandson, Jet, doesn't like painting much. I do my work and Lua is up there keeping herself busy painting, and she's great.
Kenny Scharf in his paint-splattered studio that he bikes to every day.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
5 pm: Walk
The easiest one is right behind my house. Climb to the top of the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook where the [Culver City] The stairs go. It is one of the best views in all of Los Angeles. You can see from the airport to the ocean, downtown and Mount Baldy. You can see Mount San Gorgonio almost all the way to Palm Springs. The view is amazing.
We also walk a lot Kenneth Hahn [State Recreation Area].
My grandchildren often like to hike to waterfalls, so there are a couple in Malibu. There is also a couple in San Gabriel. [Mountains]. We'll get in the car, drive an hour and walk.
6:30 p.m.: Dinner at a restaurant.
Zena, Lua and Jet live near me, so we have dinner together at least three or four times a week. Since Zena is a chef, we don't go out to eat very often, but sometimes we go to a restaurant called Mother which I love. it's in national [Boulevard]. The food is very good. They often have pumpkin flowers. They fry them and put a little cheese on them.
I love too gjelina in Venice. Sometimes I bring people from Europe there because it's quintessential California. All of the food they make comes from the farmers market, so you get a tomato salad with amazing tomatoes.
8 pm: Read
I just finished Patti Smith's latest book, “Bread of Angels.” It's lovely. I love her. I saw her perform at Disney Hall recently and she was selling this book. I actually saw her perform at the Santa Monica Civic. [Auditorium] when I was 19 years old. I wanted to move to New York for many reasons, but when I saw his performance, I said, “I'm moving there.” There was so much energy in her.
9 pm: Bedtime
I usually go to bed at 9 and sleep at 10. When I was young, I was very involved in nightlife. I worked in nightclubs, all my friends were in nightclubs, so I had that great time. But now I'm fed up. I don't want to sound over the top, but I don't see anything that makes me excited about how it went. And I'm not a nostalgic person, so I choose not to go out. I'm happier getting a good night's sleep.
