"And as a sculptor, Kennett is one of the highest degree. As to what moves him inner-most, it is no doubt, many works testify, suffering and moreover, death. But his reputation now made he doesn't choose to live in it. He is actually in quest of something else. Bronze, too dependent on the limitations of its various patinas, doesn't fully satisfy his new expectancies. He wishes to integrate colour, and furthermore light. And so we are confronted with strange works speckled with small, shiny squares of enamel. It's a clear break with his former work. As it seems, Kennett, like the snakes he enjoys, is shedding his old skin.
It is interesting to see come forth the human figure, that never was, in fact, absent of his work, portrait being with him a regular practice. But here, it is idealised heads we are talking about. One of them is covered as with a mask or make-up of different coloured enamel but this apparel can also be interpreted as a protective envelope for a wounded soul. It might indicate that Kennett is seeking to approach the primitives, an art of conjuring and of spells.
In all cases, the squares of enamel that he chooses for their impersonal industrial character, introduce a geometrical element that contradicts the suppleness of his gesture, the smooth ease of his model. Another apparent abandon. This works question us."
Sylvain Lecombre,
Direction des Affaires Culturelles de la Ville de Paris.
