Artist and SVA alumnus KaNO kid with one of his mural works.
KaNO Kid, a.k.a. Danny Kimanyen (BFA 1999 Animation), can point to two childhood epiphanies that made him want to be an artist. First was a TV news segment on Jim Davis, creator of Garfield, which showed the cartoonist living "in this big mansion," KaNO says. Second was finding out about painter Keith Haring (1979 Fine Arts), and in particular his Pop Shop, the Manhattan store that sold Haring-branded merchandise.
"I realized that artists don’t have to do just one thing," he says. "You can make T-shirts and you can show in galleries—it's all valid."
Accordingly, KaNO—whose name originated as his teenage graffiti tag, a nod to legendary rapper Big Daddy Kane—has built a diverse career. He has shown his original street-culture-inspired art in galleries, most recently in a group show at the Corey Helford Gallery in Los Angeles, and also in a group show in Brooklyn curated by fellow SVA graduate Toofly, a.k.a. Maria Castillo (BFA 1999 Illustration). He has painted large-scale outdoor murals everywhere from Tokyo to Miami to the Lower East Side. As an animator, he has worked on MTV's Daria and Cartoon Network's The Venture Bros.; he's currently a character designer for the latter channel's Ben 10. As a commercial artist, his projects include a limited-edition Jurassic Park–themed skate deck for Universal Pictures and apparel and a lunchbox for Nike's Jordan brand (a personal "artist's bucket list" item, he says).
Marvel Designer Collectible Toys by artist and SVA alumnus KaNO Kid.
Then there are the toys. KaNO's Burbank, California, studio is lined with the many figurines and collectibles he has created in collaboration with such high-end toy companies as Medicom, Kidrobot, Tokyo Plastic and Dead Zebra, Inc. Most recently, he worked with Marvel and Sideshow to create a line of figurines based on the popular Marvel superheroes Captain America, Black Panther, Wolverine and Spider-Man. Among his original characters are Money Grip, a figurine in a padded coat, with a fist in place of its head; Bodega, a spray-paint can with translucent, wing-like arms; and the Bruce Lee-inspired Dragon King, which has been blessed by the late movie star's foundation.
Although he moved to California in 2010, KaNO still keeps an apartment in his native Queens, and several of his remaining artistic goals are New York–centric. "I'd like to do a Poetry in Motion illustration for the MTA," he says. "I'd love to do an SVA subway poster. And it would be dope to be on [cable news channel] NY1 as their New Yorker of the Week!"
For more about KaNO Kid and his work, visit kanokid.com. And for special "#stayhome" KaNO coloring pages, visit kanokid.com/kanopages.
A version of this article appears in the fall/winter 2019 Visual Arts Journal.
A "#stayhome" coloring page by artist and SVA alumnus KaNO Kid. Click on the picture for more.