Now in his late seventies, artist Scott Kahn is experiencing a remarkable resurgence in his career. Over the past six years, Kahn has had sold-out solo exhibitions with Almine Rech in Paris and Harper Levine in New York City. After practicing in relative obscurity for decades, and living in his cousin's attic as recently as 2019, paintings by Kahn have recently achieved prices over $1 million through both gallery and auction sales. His studio, once replete with inventory, has been cleared out by art dealers eager to offer his works.
Back in 2018, Canadian artist Matthew Wong—whose own career was at the time on an unexpected meteoric rise—bought an oil on linen painting of Kahn's entitled Cul de Sac (2017). Since both were fascinated by nature and actively exploring magical realism in their work, Wong and Kahn had been communicating for years via Facebook despite their significant age difference and living quite far apart. Wong was then in his thirties and living in Edmonton, while Kahn was over seventy and in Brooklyn. On a trip to New York, Wong toured Kahn's studio, which led to his purchase of Cul de Sac.
Subsequently, in addition to telling his dealers about Kahn, Wong posted a picture of Cul de Sac on his Instagram feed, which spurred an instant, overwhelming response. Kahn had been represented by Katharina R. Perlow Gallery in New York for twenty-five years during the middle part of his career, but, prior to 2018, he had not had a formal relationship with any gallery for fifteen years. According to Kahn:
“No one was paying any attention to me. I thought I'd die in my cousin's attic, in poverty, without any recognition. And then Matthew came along.”
Kahn and Wong shared certain characteristics as artists, such as being self-taught and having a deep interest in nature and magical realism. Thanks to contemporary art market trends favoring Surrealism and post-Surrealism, and Wong's generosity of spirit, Kahn is enjoying a level of critical and commercial success that he long assumed he would never know. Kahn's passion for his work and persistence have paid off, along with his technical brilliance for rendering, similar to Wong, dream-like, jewel-toned landscapes, featuring solitary figures and objects—enchanting scenes that seem to intimate to viewers: you are not alone.
