Biography
Jenny Kanzler is an American painter of German and Eastern European descent. Her subject matter centers on tragicomic narratives, employing the uncanny to explore fear and humor through visual metaphor and folklore.
Kanzler holds an MFA in Painting from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (2005) and a BA in Sculpture from Syracuse University (1997). She has exhibited at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery; The Painting Center in NYC; and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Museum as well as the Rodger LaPelle Gallery in Philadelphia.
She was twice nominated for a Louis Comfort Tiffany Biennial Award; once for a MacArthur Fellowship as well as a Daedlus Foundation Grant; and has been curated and juried into the museum and gallery shows listed below.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
The Estranged Familiar, Greenbelt Community Center, Greenbelt, MD, 2024
Small But Mighty, Cabada Conemporary, Gerogetown, Washington, D.C., 2024
Curator’s Selections from Artomatic, Athenaeum, Alexandria, VA, 2024
Artomatic, Washington, D.C., 2024
Metaphysique, Buckham Gallery, Flint, MI, 2024
Pareidolia: Ideas Paradise, Tappeto Volante Gallery, Brooklyn, NYC, 2024
Dreams, Imaginings & Mementos, Gallery 222, Malervn, PA, 2023
Contortion: Melodrama and the Figure, Brentwood Arts Exchange, Brentwood, MD, 2019
Hindsight: Four Alumni Artists from the Syracuse University College of Visual and Performing Arts, Syracuse, NY, 2017
Art at Kings Oaks, Newtown, PA, 2016
Alchemical Vessels, Joan Hisaoka Gallery, Washington, DC, 2016
We do…, Rodger LaPelle Galleries, Philadelphia, PA, 2016
Flesh, Curator: Jeanine Leclaire, Ellipsis Art Salon, Philadelphia, PA, 2016
Perspective, Hillyer Art Space, Washington, DC, 2015
Privacy Made Public, Curator: Alex Cohen, New Hope Arts Center, New Hope, PA
Kanzler & Mulligan, PAFA Alumni Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, 2014
Working for Sea People, based on story by Abram Lynch, PhilaMOCA, Philadelphia, PA, 2012
So Inappropriate, Jenny Kanzler, The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA, 2012
Mother May I (Window Installation), Curator: Ed Waisnis, Rosenwald‐Wolf Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, 2010
It's Dark in There, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC, 2008
Creepy Sweet, Kelly and Weber Fine Art/201 Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, 2007
Pull Lever Down (Window Installation), Curator: Ed Waisnis, Rosenwald‐Wolf Gallery, Philadelphia, PA Selected Group Exhibitions, 2006
I Am What I Make, Curators: Alex Gartelmann & Jonas Sebura, Charlotte Street Foundation, Kansas City, MO, 2014
Philly Style, Curator: Rodger LaPelle, Rodger LaPelle Galleries, Philadelphia, PA, 2012
Pictures of the Body, Curator: Robert Cozzolino, PAFA Museum, Philadelphia, PA, 2011
Elephant’s Eye Tour (Visiting Artist), Curator: Alex Cohen, Magpie Studio, Bucks County, PA, 2011
On the Move, Curator: Rodger LaPelle, Rodger LaPelle Galleries, Philadelphia, PA, 2011
Phylamythos, Curator: Alex Stanton, PhilaMOCA, Philadelphia, PA, 2011
Philadelphia Painters, Curator: Matthew Farina, The Painting Center, New York, NY, 2010
Child's Play, CCBC Institute of Art, Design and Interactive Media, Baltimore, MD, 2010
This is the Only Place that can Save My Heart, Little Berlin Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, 2010
The Sweet Show, Curator: Cynthia Nibler, Phyllis Stein Art, Los Angeles, CA, 2009
Exquisite Corpse, Curator: Anonda Bell, Paul Robeson Gallery, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, 2009
It's Just Like I Never Stopped Being There, Curator: Alex Gartelmann, My House Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, 2009
Seven Deadly Sins, Curator: Julie Cavnor, Maryland Art Place, Baltimore, MD, 2008
35th Annual Exhibition, Curator: Carole Robb, Masur Museum of Art, Monroe, LA, 2008
Sugar Buzz, Curator: Susan Hoeltzel with Nina Sundell, Lehman College Art Gallery, Bronx, NY, 2007
i cannot remember, Curator: Alison Nastasi, Little Berlin Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, 2007
Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, 2007
INTERVIEWS/press
Film Interview: GATE Artist Spotlight, January 22, 2025
Review by Mark Jenkins, In the Galleries, The Washington Post, July 26, 2024
Review by Lenny Campello, DC Art News Blog, April, 14, 2024
Film Interview: ArtShow with Craig Stover, August 24, 2023
In the Galleries, The Washington Post, October 11, 2019
Film Review: Working for Sea People, MakeItMag, Issue 4, 2012
Interview, Jenny Kanzler: Epic Childhood, Alex Cohen for The Beard and Brush, August 12, 2011
Review, Decadent feast, calorie‐free, Mary MacVean,LA Times Daily Dish, April 7, 2009
Feature, Morphology issue, (Don't be) Spinelessliterary journal, issue 4, volume 1, 2009
Film Interview: Studioscopic, documentary project created by David S. Kessler, uwishunu January 21, 2008
Interview, Artist of the Week, What to Wear During an Orange Alert? (cultural blog), Jason Behrends, October 1‐5, 2007
Review, the a‐list: Jenny Kanzler: Creepy Sweet, Review by Roberta Fallon, Philadelphia Weekly, March 28‐April 3, 2007
Review, Look!, Roberta Fallon and Libby Rosof artblog/podcast, Producer/Director: David S. Kessler, April, 2007
Feature, New American Paintings, Mid Atlantic Edition, May/June, 2006
Image, The Philadelphia Daily News, December 13, 2005
SOCIAL MEDIA
Instagram: @jennykanzler