Nicholas Bono Kennedy - "Dinner Party (While The World Burns)"

When does a cherished object cross the line into burdensome excess? How can we attempt to enjoy our lives when the world burns around us? In his debut solo exhibition with Hashimoto Contemporary Dinner Party (While the World Burns), Los Angeles-based artist Nicholas Bono Kennedy examines the intricate relationship between beauty and burden amid a backdrop of pressing political and ecological challenges through his rich, colorful paintings. Balancing life’s beautiful moments with the chaos of living, the LA-based artist fills his compositions with lush arrangements of potted plants, pet piles, and scenes of domestic life, prompting viewers to find appreciation for our lives in a world that is beautiful and tragic.

Often alluding to art historical arrangements of flowers and fruits, Bono Kennedy’s rich, colorful paintings are full of life but with a sense of foreboding. The painting Flower Van at Sunset Plaza associates scenes of cherished memories and places amid hints of looming danger, setting a delicious meal at the artist’s favorite Taiwanese restaurant against the backdrop of a derelict dollar store—a reminder of the hardships that often underscores joy. The title piece, Dinner Party (While the World Burns), shows a seemingly idyllic living-room gathering as a fire blazes in the hills outside the window, encapsulating the tension between the exhilaration of being alive with the imminent reality of life’s precarity.

Still, Kennedy’s paintings are playful, dynamic, humorous. Several paintings feature an excess of potted plants or dogs, highlighting how too much of anything—even something meant to calm or distract—can become overwhelming, creating its own turmoil. “For this exhibition,” Kennedy remarked, “I wanted to find a way to communicate the anxiety and dread many of us feel on a daily basis while still creating works that exude a playful energy.” Through a delicate balance of humor, play, and existential dread, Kennedy’s paintings remind us that goodness is not found in the world despite the anguish, but as part of our larger appreciation for life.