Skylar
Fein

Skylar was born in New York City and raised in the Bronx. He began making art in the wreckage of New Orleans, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Skylar began collecting the wood that was lying everywhere. And in his backyard, he began putting the boards together, experimenting with color and composition. His work soon became known for its pop sensibility as well as its hard-nosed politics. In 2008 he dropped out of school to make art full time.

His Prospect.1 installation threw a spotlight on an overlooked piece of New Orleans history: a fire that swept through a French Quarter bar in 1973, killing everyone inside. His installation, "Remember the Upstairs Lounge," walked visitors right through the swinging bar doors, and offered visual riffs on politics and sexuality circa 1973. The piece was praised in Artforum and the New Yorker, among others.

His first solo museum show, "Youth Manifesto," was an ode to punk rock as a force for social and cultural upheaval. The opening reception at New Orleans Museum of Art was shut down by police responding to the look of the unlikely art-going crowd.

Well known in New Orleans, Fein's work is now getting attention at the national level. In the massive installation “The Lincoln Bedroom” (November 2013) Fein recreated Abraham Lincoln’s first house in Springfield, Illinois, building a 2-story 1840’s frontier structure inside C24 Gallery in Chelsea, New York.

In 2017, Skylar did a Rauschenberg Residency in Captiva, Florida, and in 2018 received an MFA from Tulane University.