Sunflower Biennial exhibition opens this week
By Gary Demuth
Layna Kinnaird believes her painting about imperfection is full of imperfections.
That’s why the Salina Central High School junior was surprised that her painting “What’s Wrong with Your Skin?” was chosen as one of the representative pieces in the 2021 Sunflower Biennial exhibition opening this week at the Salina Art Center.
“I’m really excited, but I wasn’t expecting this one to get in,” she said. “It’s not one of my favorites because I wanted to spend a little more time with it.”
In other words, Kinnaird is being a perfectionist about a painting that celebrates imperfection. Her painting, which she created with gouache paint and Swarovski crystals, is a portrait of an African American man with vitiligo, a skin disease that creates white blotches on the skin.