UH-HUH (1992)

One of Kennedy's earlier Superstar Shadow wall-text paintings, UH-HUH plays with the phrase's relationship to linguistic formality and power dynamics by subtly addressing the layered meanings of this noncommittal response in art, politics, advertising and daily life. 

Reflecting on UH-HUH, Kennedy wrote:

"I painted the words, UH-HUH from floor to ceiling on the walls and windows of the lobby of the gallery—the space that was allotted to me by the curator, Carolyn White. I used my adaptation of the typeface Superstar Shadow. The words are selected from the Pepsi television advertisement, "...That's the way I like it, Uh-Huh, Uh-Huh..." sung by Ray Charles. They were painted in the Pepsi colours of red and blue with the shadows of the letters painted in blue and the hyphen (red square) painted in red—in the corner (well, almost in the corner). The irony of seeing a red square painted in the corner in juxtaposition with Pepsi blue bands interested me. It raised the question of the viability of making political art—while making political art. The work was part of a group exhibition, Sporting Type that included Greg Curnoe, Diane Gagne and Ken Lum. The exhibition's announcement card features a deadpan reading of the two words—on the cover they're in black and white, then on the interior page, facing, they're in Pepsi colours. I later built variations of this work at Mount Allison University, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, the National Gallery of Canada, the Nickle Art Museum and the Beaverbrook Art Gallery." 

-Garry Neill Kennedy, Superstar Shadow (1984-2005), pg. 36

UH-HUH has been exhibited nationally at the S.L. Simpson Gallery (Toronto, 1992) for Sporting Type; at Owens Art Gallery at Mount Allison University (Sackville, NB, 1996) for Garry Neill Kennedy: Wall Paintings and Related Works 1974-1995; in Kennedy's retrospective Work of Four Decades which toured to the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (Halifax, 2000), the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa, 2000), and Beaverbrook Art Gallery (Fredericton, NB, 2001); as well as at the Nickle Art Museum (Calgary, AB, 2002).