Bio
Biography
Carbone has taught at the School of Visual Arts and lectured at Yale University, Carnegie Mellon, the Rhode Island School of Design, and RIT. He has presented his work at the Cooper Hewitt, The Aspen Design Conference, The Denver Art Museum, The Museum of Design Atlanta, and the High Museum. As a TEDx speaker, he has delighted audiences with stories about his career in art and design. He frequently writes about visual culture for Print Magazine, Fast Company, and Huff Post. His book The Virtuoso: Face to Face with 40 Extraordinary Talents, featuring photographic portraits by Howard Schatz, was published in 2000.
He lives and works in Piermont, NY, along the Hudson River.
Kenneth Carbone pursues a broad spectrum of artistic expression, from the stark elegance of line to the mystery of richly layered images. Drawing is his foundation, and he uses wet and dry media, including graphite, charcoal, pastel, ink, watercolor, acrylic, and oil. Explorations of the body and nature begin with intense observation, resulting in images at the edge of abstraction.
Born in Philadelphia, PA, Carbone received a BFA at The Philadelphia College of Art. For over 40 years, he was the Creative Director and Artist-in-Residence for the Carbone Smolan Agency, which he co-founded in New York City in 1977 with designer Leslie Smolan. Their many clients include award-winning assignments for Tiffany & CO, Mandarin Oriental Hotels, BCG, Christie’s, PBS, The Dalia Lama, The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and esteemed art institutions such as The Museum of Modern Art, LACMA, The Jewish Museum, The Edward Hopper House Museum, The Morgan Library, and The Musée du Louvre. The American Institute of Graphic Arts recognized this portfolio with a Lifetime Achievement Award In 2014.