Image: Audiences gathered in the Sarasota High School Alumni Auditorium at SAM, viewing an on-screen image of Clown (Star Patrick) and Clown I, 2019, by artist Claire Ashley. Courtesy of the artist.
Sarasota Art Museum will present a screening of ‘Kenny Scharf: When Worlds Collide’ on Thursday, August 27, from 2 to 4 p.m. The film will be shown as part of the museum’s ‘Art on Film’ programme in the Sarasota High School Alumni Auditorium at Sarasota Art Museum in Sarasota, Florida.
According to the museum’s programme announcement, the documentary follows Kenny Scharf’s career and his continued commitment to painting over several decades. It describes the film as an intimate account of Scharf’s journey and his persistence in developing a “technicolor vision” through changing cultural conditions.
The screening is framed through Scharf’s connection to the New York art scene of the 1980s. The museum’s description identifies him as a close friend of Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat, and places all three artists within a vibrant, cartoon-influenced street-art milieu that helped define the period. The announcement characterises Scharf as a survivor of a “tragic era,” while emphasising that he continued to paint across subsequent decades.
The event is one of Sarasota Art Museum’s film-focused public programmes. The museum’s current newsletter presents its schedule as including gallery tours, talks, live jazz and films, describing the programme as an opportunity to “catch art on the big screen.” The Scharf screening is listed separately from the museum’s curator-led tour of ‘Something Borrowed, Something New’, which takes place on August 24.
Admission to the film includes museum admission. Tickets are listed at $7 for members and $12 for not-yet members. The event announcement does not provide further information about the documentary’s director, production date or running time beyond the two-hour programme schedule.
Sarasota Art Museum’s newsletter also lists exhibitions on view during the period, including ‘Something Borrowed, Something New’ and ‘Maria A. Guzman Capron: Penumbra’, both scheduled through September 27, 2026, as well as ‘Beautiful Ideas: The Prints of Sol LeWitt’, scheduled through October 25. The museum is located at 1001 South Tamiami Trail in Sarasota and lists daily hours of 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The screening begins at 2 p.m. on August 27 in the Sarasota High School Alumni Auditorium at SAM.
