FREE SHIPPING
Shipping takes 3–4 Weeks
Ships from Round Lake Beach, Illinois (a suburb outside Chicago) via UPS or USPS
Title:
Big Love – 36x36 inch Oil Painting on Gallery-Wrapped Canvas by Kenney Mencher
This is one of my largest paintings—36x36 inches, oil on gallery-wrapped canvas, so it doesn’t need a frame. It ships ready to hang.
Big Love is grounded in the body positivity movement. For years, I struggled with accepting how my body changed as I aged. Painting helped me work through it. I started depicting people who looked more like me—hairy, thick, aging—and discovered I wasn’t alone. The bear subculture within gay culture gave that experience a name and a community.
Body positivity is the belief that everyone deserves to have a positive body image, regardless of what society says about ideal shapes or appearances. This painting reflects that by:
Challenging societal standards of attractiveness
Celebrating bodies that are large, hairy, and real
Encouraging confidence and acceptance of ourselves
Giving visibility to marginalized aesthetics
In gay culture, a “bear” is a larger, often hairier man who projects rugged masculinity. Most straight people have never heard of it, but bears have built their own world: bars, books, festivals, even their own slang. “Woof” and “grrrr” are compliments. “Cubs,” “wolves,” and “otters” round out the spectrum. It’s a full vocabulary for a community that embraces real bodies and sexual diversity.
This piece came together slowly, over a couple of weeks. That kind of layered approach wasn’t possible back when I lived in California with a cramped studio. Since moving to Illinois, I’ve taken over the basement as my painting studio—tons of room, great ventilation, and space to let things dry. I now paint in layers, allowing time for the oils to set and textures to build.
The process started as a rough sketch directly on the canvas using crayon. From there, I developed the underpainting in washes of oil, eventually working up to opaque layers. On the final day, I built up areas with thick paint using plaster knives and bristle brushes. Some areas have 2–3 cm of paint on the surface. The result is a muscular, textured skin-like surface that enhances the physicality of the figure.
This painting is affectionate, personal, and rooted in a political and cultural dialogue. It’s about aging, confidence, queerness, and how much space we deserve to take up in the world—physically and emotionally.
Details:
FREE SHIPPING
Shipping takes 3–4 Weeks
Ships from Round Lake Beach, Illinois (a suburb outside Chicago) via UPS or USPS
Title:
Big Love – 36x36 inch Oil Painting on Gallery-Wrapped Canvas by Kenney Mencher
This is one of my largest paintings—36x36 inches, oil on gallery-wrapped canvas, so it doesn’t need a frame. It ships ready to hang.
Big Love is grounded in the body positivity movement. For years, I struggled with accepting how my body changed as I aged. Painting helped me work through it. I started depicting people who looked more like me—hairy, thick, aging—and discovered I wasn’t alone. The bear subculture within gay culture gave that experience a name and a community.
Body positivity is the belief that everyone deserves to have a positive body image, regardless of what society says about ideal shapes or appearances. This painting reflects that by:
Challenging societal standards of attractiveness
Celebrating bodies that are large, hairy, and real
Encouraging confidence and acceptance of ourselves
Giving visibility to marginalized aesthetics
In gay culture, a “bear” is a larger, often hairier man who projects rugged masculinity. Most straight people have never heard of it, but bears have built their own world: bars, books, festivals, even their own slang. “Woof” and “grrrr” are compliments. “Cubs,” “wolves,” and “otters” round out the spectrum. It’s a full vocabulary for a community that embraces real bodies and sexual diversity.
This piece came together slowly, over a couple of weeks. That kind of layered approach wasn’t possible back when I lived in California with a cramped studio. Since moving to Illinois, I’ve taken over the basement as my painting studio—tons of room, great ventilation, and space to let things dry. I now paint in layers, allowing time for the oils to set and textures to build.
The process started as a rough sketch directly on the canvas using crayon. From there, I developed the underpainting in washes of oil, eventually working up to opaque layers. On the final day, I built up areas with thick paint using plaster knives and bristle brushes. Some areas have 2–3 cm of paint on the surface. The result is a muscular, textured skin-like surface that enhances the physicality of the figure.
This painting is affectionate, personal, and rooted in a political and cultural dialogue. It’s about aging, confidence, queerness, and how much space we deserve to take up in the world—physically and emotionally.
Details:
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