Kayla Mahaffey (American/Chicago, b. 1994) , "Head in the Clouds", 2021, 27-color screenprint

Kayla Mahaffey (American/Chicago, b. 1994) , "Head in the Clouds", 2021, 27-color screenprint, signed lower right, dated and monogrammed in plate lower right, numbered "34/75" lower left, 35 in. x 42 in., framed, overall 41 3/8 in. x 48 1/4 in. x 1 in. Note: Born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, Kayla Mahaffey took the struggle in the world around her and the support from her community to evolve a unique and personal style that imbues her work with imagination, whimsy, positivity and the narrative of her own life story. Her works are best described as a mixture of pop art and Afro-surrealism and based around her childhood memories and the safety and comfort she felt in her younger years, particularly while watching cartoons. Mahaffey’s works have a depth of meaning and universal appeal that have led to her recent meteoric rise within the art world. In the skilled hands of Mahaffey, popular culture imagery is re-purposed and re-invented. By combining immediately recognizable cartoon elements with images of Black children, she succeeds in carving out space for them, and herself, within the imaginative chaos. Her work is saturated in bubble gum and cotton candy colors and invites the viewer into the artist’s world, which is as sentimental and whimsical as it is deeply powerful. Ref.: Scott, Chadd. “Kayla Mahaffey Explores Nostalgia in New Paintings.” See Great Art. Sept. 17, 2021. www.seegreatart.art. Accessed Mar. 1, 2023; “Interview with Kayla Mahaffey for ‘Remember the Time.’” Sour Harvest. Sept. 21, 2021. www.sourharvest.com. Accessed Mar. 1, 2023; Mahaffey, Kayla. “About.” Kayla May. www.kaylamay.art. Accessed Mar. 1, 2023.
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