Artist Kennedy Yanko (b. 1988) works primarily with found objects and paint skins. To create her paint skin sculptures, gallons of paint are poured onto a surface that is lifted, shaped, and subsequently fitted into metal armatures which Yanko welds into precise shapes. Earlier this year she unveiled a new group of sculptural works at Venice Biennale.

Over the past two years, Yanko has been experimenting with handmade paper at Pace Prints workshops in New York, pouring, staining and manipulating highly pigmented paper pulp, echoing the draped paint skins of her sculptures.

These new works suggest ambiguous geographies, like imagined islands or bodies of water, resembling aerial maps drawn by the artist’s own body. Light as Waves invites viewers to investigate its textured topography, floating from one form to the next. 

Scroll down to find out more in a short interview with the artist below.

How are these works made?

The process of making these works begins with staining paper pulp that has been pressed by a heavy-duty ton press. I use pure pigments and water to saturate the paper, and then the process is a series of multiple transfers, explosions and layering of colour.

What role did spontaneity play in making these works? You have spoken about arm drawings? 

Spontaneity is a very important part of my practice because what I make is always a response to what I am confronted with, what is in front of me. When this work began, I started with the place I always go back to, which is pouring; pouring the stains directly onto the pressed sheets. My arm drawings describe a process of using my arm to create markings on the board. I experiment with different transfers and presses to create different textures and variations of how the colour leaks into the paper.

How do you determine your use of colour?

The way that I choose colour for my paper works is different to how I select it for my sculptures, because they manifest in very different ways. My colour choices are determined by what I want to see. Working with paper, I found that my colour choices were more saturated than the muted colours I use in my sculptures. This has a different kind of vibrancy and energy to it.

What role does musicality play in your practice?

The more time that I've spent with musicians, the more I understand how similar we work; a lot of that is a choreographed back and forth between the composition and the next step. I can't really start work until I have music in my ears. It's hard for me to focus without that kind of vibrational pull.

How did you find working on smaller scale?

When I first came into the workshop, I really wanted to work at a very large and intense scale. However I discovered that by working smaller I was able to put multiple pieces next to each other, allowing me to edit my way down with them.

I also wanted to have work that was accessible. I wanted to challenge myself a little bit to think smaller and more micro. I found so much pleasure in making these smaller scaled works because individually they are each so different.

Has your work with paper brought anything to your wider practice? 

My work with paper has brought many things to my wider practice as a sculptor, and as someone working in different capacities, such as film and performance. Working with paper has become a really free place for me to explore, uninhibited, an entirely new medium. However, at the same time, I have been able to really express myself as a painter through paper in the way that I haven't before, be it through the canvas or through sculpture.

Kennedy Yanko, 2026

"Being a painter with a background in momentum and movement, it felt great to get back to working like this. In a way, I kind of longed for that. There’s an immediacy that paper satisfies and figuring that out was a really delicious process."

Kennedy Yanko, Hypebeast, 2026

View the works, illustrated above, in person at Frieze London (14 - 18 October), where they can be purchased at Cristea Roberts Gallery, booth A3.