Grant Kenny was born in Auckland in 1963. He studied at Elam school of Fine Arts in 1982
and worked part time at Artworks foundry where he discovered a love for sculpture. In
1984 he moved to Sydney where he took life-drawing classes at the Julian Ashton School
of Art. He then embarked on a journey to Europe where he would spend the next
decade. He spent the first four years in London and Italy, painting copies in the National
Gallery and attending life classes at Chelsea School of Art. Here he met and received great
encouragement from the renowned British painter Francis Bacon.
In 1989 Kenny moved to Madrid studying at the Circulo de Bellas Artes, and painting in the
Museo del Prado. He received a number of important commissions from one of Spain’s most
respected collectors, who arranged for Kenny to be given a private room in the Prado to
copy Holbein’s Portrait of Sir Thomas More.
His first solo show soon followed in Madrid. (1993) In 1994 Kenny travelled to North
America painting and returned to New Zealand later that year. The Ferner Gallery in Parnell
recognized Kenny’s talent and upon his return he continued to exhibit in group shows at
Ferner Gallery. In 2000 Kenny had a solo show of West Coast landscapes in Lopdell House,
Titirangi.
He continues to divide his time between figure painting and landscapes painting in New
Zealand and Spain, returning frequently to Andalucia, a region he particularly loves for it’s
color, light and subject matter.