FREE SHIPPING
Shipping takes 3-4 Weeks
This ships from Round Lake Beach, Illinois. A suburb outside of Chicago. I use UPS and sometimes US Post.
This painting is called "Self Portrait with Val as Gangsters." I painted it in 1999, and it’s 9x14 inches, oil on panel, with a black wood frame that brings it to about 11x16.25 inches total. It’s part of my Fresh Finds archive project—where I’m bringing older work out of storage and offering it to collectors for the first time.
This one’s a little different—it’s a double portrait with a playful twist. That’s Val on the right in the green suit and fedora, holding a cigarette. The figure on the left is me (Kenney Mencher). We posed like characters out of a noir film, and I leaned into that visual language—dark suits, slicked-back hair, low-key confrontation. It’s partly a joke, partly a serious study in identity and performance.
The brushwork is thick and visible, especially in the background and clothing. There’s a lot of impasto built up in the suit and face. It’s stylized in that way—expressive, textural—but the composition is rooted in traditional portraiture. The anatomy is accurate but pushed slightly for effect, especially in the shoulders and hands. The light source comes from behind, giving both figures that dramatic noir glow, with warm yellow backlight against the darker foreground.
Compositionally, this one is vertically framed and tightly cropped. The figures fill most of the space, and your eye is pulled to the left/right dynamic between them. It’s asymmetrical, but the balance comes from the contrast in color and pose.
This painting plays with how we construct identity—how clothing, posture, and staging can turn someone into a character.
Details:
Title: Self Portrait with Val as Gangsters
Medium: Oil on panel
Size: 9 x 14 inches (unframed), approx. 11 x 16.25 inches (framed)
Year: 1999
Framed: Yes, black wood frame included
Condition: Excellent
Signed: Yes
Part of the Fresh Finds archive series
FREE SHIPPING
Shipping takes 3-4 Weeks
This ships from Round Lake Beach, Illinois. A suburb outside of Chicago. I use UPS and sometimes US Post.
This painting is called "Self Portrait with Val as Gangsters." I painted it in 1999, and it’s 9x14 inches, oil on panel, with a black wood frame that brings it to about 11x16.25 inches total. It’s part of my Fresh Finds archive project—where I’m bringing older work out of storage and offering it to collectors for the first time.
This one’s a little different—it’s a double portrait with a playful twist. That’s Val on the right in the green suit and fedora, holding a cigarette. The figure on the left is me (Kenney Mencher). We posed like characters out of a noir film, and I leaned into that visual language—dark suits, slicked-back hair, low-key confrontation. It’s partly a joke, partly a serious study in identity and performance.
The brushwork is thick and visible, especially in the background and clothing. There’s a lot of impasto built up in the suit and face. It’s stylized in that way—expressive, textural—but the composition is rooted in traditional portraiture. The anatomy is accurate but pushed slightly for effect, especially in the shoulders and hands. The light source comes from behind, giving both figures that dramatic noir glow, with warm yellow backlight against the darker foreground.
Compositionally, this one is vertically framed and tightly cropped. The figures fill most of the space, and your eye is pulled to the left/right dynamic between them. It’s asymmetrical, but the balance comes from the contrast in color and pose.
This painting plays with how we construct identity—how clothing, posture, and staging can turn someone into a character.
Details:
Title: Self Portrait with Val as Gangsters
Medium: Oil on panel
Size: 9 x 14 inches (unframed), approx. 11 x 16.25 inches (framed)
Year: 1999
Framed: Yes, black wood frame included
Condition: Excellent
Signed: Yes
Part of the Fresh Finds archive series
