| MARK
KOSTABI (1960 - )
 |
Artist and Composer Mark Kostabi
was born in Los Angeles in 1960 to Estonian immigrants. He was
raised in Whittier, California and studied drawing and painting
at California State University Fullerton.
In 1982 he moved to New York and by 1984 became a leading figure
of the East Village art movement.
He developed a provocative media persona by publishing self-interviews
that commented on the commodification of contemporary art. In
1988 he founded Kostabi World - a studio, gallery and office
complex known for openly employing painting assistants and idea
people. The Mitsukoshi Museum in Tokyo (1992) and the Art Museum
of Estonian Tallinn (1998) have held retrospective exhibitions
of his work. Kostabi's work is in the permanent collections
of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
the Guggenheim Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, the Corcoran Gallery
of Art and the
Groninger Museum in Holland. In 1988 he painted a mural in the
Palazzo dei Priori in Arezzo, Italy and completed a commissioned
public sculpture To See Through is Not to See Into, for the
city of San
Benedetto del Tronto, Italy. Kostabi's music has been performed
in New York, Japan, Italy and Estonia by orchestras and soloists
including Rein Rannap, Kristjan Jarvi, Maano Manni, the Chamber
Staff of the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, and Kostabi
himself. His first CD, I Did It Steinway, of solo piano music
composed and performed by himself, was released in 1998. Kostabi
has designed album covers (Guns 'N' Roses' Use Your Illusion,
Ramones' Adios Amigos) and numerous products including a Swatch
watch, limited-edition vases, and computer accessories. Kostabi
has been profiled on"60 Minutes," "Eye to Eye with Connie Chung,"
"A Current Affair," "Nightwatch" (with Charlie Rose), "The Oprah
Winfrey Show," "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous," "West 57th,"
CNN, MTV and numerous television programs throughout Europe
and Japan. In print he has been featured in The New York
Times, People, Vogue, The Face, Playboy, Forbes, New York Magazine,
Domus, Artforum, Art in America, ARTnews, Flash Art and Teme
Celeste. Kostabi produces a weekly cable TV show, Inside
Kostabi in Manhattan. Kostabi lectures regularly worldwide and
has published seven books, including Sadness Because the Video
Rental Store Was Closed, Kostabi: The Early Years and Conversations
with Kostabi.
BORN 1960
EDUCATION:
1978-81 California State University,
Fullerton
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
- 1981
- California State University, Fullerton
- Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, California
- 1982
- Molly Barnes Gallery, Los Angeles
- 1983
- 1984
- Molly Barnes Gallery, Los Angeles
- Limbo Lounge, NYC
- Hal Bromm Gallery, NYC, "Say Less and Say Yes"
- Semaphore, NYC
- Lucky Strike, NYC
- Hal Bromm Gallery, NYC
- 1985
- Art Awareness, Lexington, NY
- Nada Gallery, NYC
- Australian Center for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, Australia
- Semaphore, NYC, "Amateurs Imitate, Professionals Steal"
- Eastman-Wahmendorf Gallery, NYC
- Semaphore & Semaphore East, NYC
- Ray Hughes Gallery, Brisbane, Australia
- Civilisation, NYC
- Paul Cava Gallery, Philadelphia
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
- 1981
- Molly Barnes Gallery, Los Angeles, "Zany Cal-Aesthetics"
- Traction Gallery, Los Angeles, "Ex Libris"
- Molly Barnes Gallery, Los Angeles, "Art as Gift"
- 1982
- Wilson Schoool, Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, "Art '82"
- Barbara Gladstone Gallery, NYC, "A More Store"
- 1983
- Wilson Gallery, Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, "Art '83"
- Middle Collegiate Church, NYC, "Resurrection", curators
- Steve Whitesell and Joel Handorff
- Collaborative Projects & W.P.A., The Ritz Hotel, Washington,
D.C., "The Ritz"
- Danceteria, "1000 Balloons", curators - Liz & Val
- Piezo Electric Gallery, NYC, "The Wild West Show", curator
- Carlo McCormick
- Harm Bouckaert Gallery, NYC, "Saints"
- Serra Di Felice, NYC
- ABC No Rio, NYC, "Wish You'd Been Here", curator - Carlo
McCormick
- Center Gallery, Chicago, "Inside Out"
- Brooklyn Army Terminal, Brooklyn, New York, "Terminal
New York"
- Zippers, NYC, "Artistic Urges"
- Danceteria, NYC, "Lower East Side Polygon"
- The International Running Center, NYC, "Marathon: '83"
- East 7th Street Gallery, NYC, "Underdog"
- Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, "That Obscure
Object of Desire", curator - Barry Blinderman
- Underground, NYC, "An Evening of Surrealism (Moon Age
Daydream), curator - D.D. Chapin
- White Columns, NYC, "Science and Prophecy", curators
- Joel Handorff and Steve Whitesell
- Limbo Lounge, NYC, "Limbo Lounge Retrospective"
- Danceteria, NYC, "Science Fair"
- Jack Tilton Gallery, NYC, "A. More Store"
- Kamikaze, NYC, "Gracie Mansion Presents"
- Simone Gallery, NYC, "Mark Kostabi at Simone Gallery"
- 1984
- Hal Bromm Gallery, NYC, "Climbing"
- Bess Cutler Gallery, NYC, "Situation", curator - Steve
Kaplan
- P.S. 1, Long Island City, New York, "Limbo, curators
- Walter Robinson and Carlo McCormick
- Hal Bromm Gallery, NYC, "Artists Call Against U.S. Intervention
in Central America"
- Bonnier Gallery, Charles Cowles Gallery, Germans Van
Eck Gallery, "Totem", curator - Steve Kaplan
- Hal Bromm Gallery, NYC, "The Untitled Show"
- New York Public Library, Tompkins Square Branch, NYC,
"Psychology", curator - Bruce Wall
- Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, California,
"10th Street & Avenue B/East Village Art Today"
- Soho Center for the Visual Arts, NYC, "Four Artists"
- Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana, "Painting
and Sculpture Today"
- P.S. 1, Long Island City, NYC, "The New Portrait", curator
- Jeffrey Deitch
- Dramatis Personae Gallery, NYC, "Extravaganza"
- Kamikaze, NYC, "Karnival"
- Oil and Steel Gallery, NYC, "Creative Time Benefit"
- 149 Second Avenue, NYC, "A Time Before Morning"
- Kamikaze, NYC, "Non Con Test"
- Gallerle Barbara Farber, Amsterdam, Holland, "Summer
in New York"
- Fashion Moda, Bronx, New York, "The Open Show"
- Danceteria, NYC, "Machine Language"
- Limbo Lounge, NYC, "Conspiracies"
- Avenue A, NYC
- Magic Gallery, NYC, "Hit and Run"
- Kenkeleba Gallery, NYC, "Chill Out New York", curator
- Steve Kaplan
- Kamikaze, NYC, "Art Disposal Nite"
- Sensory Evolution Gallery, NYC, "The Acid Test Show"
- Bette Stoler Gallery, NYC, "Arabesque"
- 419 Lafayette Street, NYC, "Art & Ego"
- Center Gallery, Bucknell University , Lewisburg, Pennsylvania,
"Contemporary Perspectives - Pop Symbolism"
- University Art Museum, University of Tennessee/Knoxville,
"Drawings"
- Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia, "The East Village Scene", curator - Janet
Cardon
- George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal, NYC, "In the
Public Eye"
- Fashion Moda, Bronx, New York, "Real Politick"
- Hartwick College, Oneonta, New York, "New York City
Artists in 0-Town"
- New York Public Library, Tomkins Square Branch, NYC,
"Bacchanalia"
- Darinka, NYC, "Dream Logic: Erotic Impulses", curator
- Susan Berko
- Albright Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, "Group
Show"
- Zero One, Los Angeles, "East Infection", curator - Carlo
McCormick
- University of California/Santa Barbara, "Neo York"
- Zurich, Switzerland, "International Art Fair"
- Hal Bromm Gallery, NYC, "New Painting"
- Peter Miller Gallery, Chicago, "Visitors from the East
Village"
- Columbus Museum of Arts & Sciences, Columbus, Georgia,
"American Art Now! Painting in the 1980's"
- Nico Smith, NYC, "Big Show"
- Zurich, Switzerland, "Zurich Forum"
- 1985
- Hal Bromm Gallery, NYC, "New Painting"
- Casa Nada, NYC, "Group Show"
- Hal Bromm Gallery, NYC, "A Christmas Collection"
- Now Gallery, NYC, "Micro Art"
- Limbo Lounge, NYC, "Le Grande Bodegon"
- New York Public Library, Tompkins Square Branch, NYC,
"East/West"
- Irvine Fine Arts Center, Irvine, California, "The Figure
Transformed by Technology"
- University of Wisconsin/Eau Claire, "New York Art from
Semaphore and Semaphore East"
- Saidye Bronfman Centre, Montreal, Quebec, "East Village
At Centre", curated by Katya Arnold
- The QCC Art Gallery; Queensborough Community College,
Bayside, NY;
- Freedman Gallery, Albright College, Reading, Pennsylvania
- Marian Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, "The Parodic Power
of Popular Imagery", curator - Lenore Malen
- Silver Limo Gallery, NYC, "Haiti Haiti Tenth Street
Today"
- Semaphore, NYC, "Summer Better Than Others"
- Semaphore East, NYC, "Works on Paper"
- Frank Bernaducci Gallery, NYC, "Drawn"
- Nico Smith Gallery, NYC, "The Monster Show"
- Kamikaze, NYC, "Zero Gravity"
- BK. Smith Gallery, Lake Erie College, Painesville, Ohio,
"20/20"
- ABC No Rio, NYC, "Political Art"
- Kamikaze, NYC, "Tight as Spring"
- 22 Wooster Gallery, NYC, "Democracy at Work"
- Rosa Esman Gallery, NYC, "East Village Funktional"
- St. Mark's Gallery, NYC, "Linus and Friends"
- Now Gallery, NYC, "Microwave"
- Eastman-Wahmendorf Gallery, NYC, "Aesthetic Awareness"
- Tower Gallery, Southhampton, New York, "Avenue C by
the Sea"
- A&P Gallery, NYC
- Hal Bromm Gallery, NYC, "City Streets"
- Private Eyes, NYC, "A Strange Mix"
- Palladium, NYC, "The East Village Art Collection"
- Civilian Warfare, NYC, "Gettin Off"
- Kamikaze, NYC, "Too Hot for Summer"
- Palladium, NYC, "Palladium Open"
- Kamikaze, NYC, "Artifacts of the Future"
- Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, South Carolina,
"Innocence and Experience", curator - Tom Styron
- Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, NYC, "Otherland"
- Wessel O'Conner Gallery, Rome, Italy, "The Discovery
of America"
- No Se No, NYC, "The Rivington School"
- Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, NYC, "Fashion Moda Benefit"
- Fernando Vijande Gallery, Madrid, Spain, "Psycho Pueblo"
- Now Gallery, NYC, "Micro Max"
- Moosart Gallery and Barbara Gillman Gallery, Miami,
Florida, "The Best and the Brightest from the East Village
and Soho"
- First Street Gallery, NYC, "Innocence and Experience",
curator - Tom Styron
COMMISSIONS
- 1985
- 1986
- Bloomingdale's 1986 Shopping Bag
AWARDS
- Proliferation Prize, presented by East Village Eye, August,
1984, p. 32
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
- 1980
- Kostabi, self-published book Los Angeles Hoffberg, Judith,
"Kostabi"; Umbrella, November, p. 129
- 1981
- Muchnic, Suzanne, "Grins, Grimaces"; Los Angeles Times,
July 14, part 4, p. 1
- Kostabi, self-published book, Los Angeles
- Hoffberg, Judith, "Kostabi", November
- 1982
- Christy, George, "The Great Life", The Hollywood Reporter,
July 23, p. 23
- Muchnic, Suzanne, "La Cienega Area, Los Angeles Reporter,
July 23, part 6, p. 8
- 1983
- Raynor, Vivien, "Circles and Age", The New York Times,
Sept. 22, p. C24
- Bomb, Vol.;8, p. 89
- Raynor, Vivien, review, "Climbing: The East Village",
The New York Times, Jan. 27, p. C22
- Robinson, Walter, "East Village Artists in Amsterdam",
East Village Eye Dec./ian., 1983-84, p. 23
- 1984
- Muchnic, Suzanne, "The Galleries", Los Angeles Times,
Jan. 27, p. 2
- McCormick, Carlo, "An Interview with Mark Kostabi, East
Village Eye, p. 32
- Carr, C., "Art & Artifice in the East Village", Village
Voice, April 3, p. 38
- "An Interview with Mark Kostabi by Everyman", Pan Arts,
May, pp. 23, 13
- Heartney, Eleanor, review, "Totem", ARTnews, May, p.
172
- McCormick, Carlo, review, New York Beat, May 23, p.
15
- Krainak, Paul, review, Soho Arts Weekly, May 30, pp.
lOB & 11B
- Appearances, Issue 10, pp. 13, 38-40, 48
- Robinson, Walter and McCormick Carlo, "Slouching Toward
Avenue D", Art in America, Summer, pp. 140 & 157
- Owens, Craig, "The Problem with Puerilism", Art in America,
Summer pp. 162 & 163
- Smith, Roberta, "East Village Art Wars", Village Voice,
July 17, p. 79
- Bankowsky, Jack, review, East Village Eye, August, p.
37
- There is Only One Clique and You are the Only One",
Paris Review, Issue 92, Summer, pp. 95-101
- La Palma, Marina & Gardener, Coin, "Mark Kostabi at
Molly Barnes , images & Issues, May/June, pp. 46 & 48
- "Interview with Mark Kostabi by Everyman", Gem Magazine,
Issue 2, cover, p. 7
- Bankowsky, Jack, "Graffiti Grows Up: East Village Galleries",
New York Native, Sept. 10-23, p. 24
- "Mark on Mark", New York Talk, Sept. , p. 41
- McCormick, Carlo, "The Periphery of Pluralism", The
East Village Scene, (catalogue), pp. 48 & 49
- Mulcahy, Susan, "Deep in the Art of the East Village...",
New York Post, Page Six, Oct. 22
- Sozanski, Edward, "The East Village Scene in Diverse
Artistry", The Philadelphia Inquirer, Oct. 16, p. SC
- Robinson, Waiter, "Mark Kostabi at Hal Bromm", Art in
America, Nov., p. 154
- Heartney, Eleanor, "Mark Kostabi at Hal Bromm", ART
news, Dec., p. 156
- McCormick, Carlo, "The East..Village Scene", (catalogue),
Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia
- Hoffman, Randi, "Big Painting Disappears'Without a Trace",
The Hoffman Dispatch, Nov. 22 - Dec. 5, p. 1
- Bankowsky, Jack, "Marginal Effects", New York Natlve,
Dec. 17-30, p. 53
- Neff, M.A., "No Room for Mistakes", Interview, Holiday
Issue
- McCormick, Carlo, "Guide to East Village Artists - New
York, Report on a Phenomenon"; (catalogue), University
of California/Santa Barbara
- 1985
- Blinderman, Barry, "Contemporary Perspectives - Pop
Symbolism", (catalogue), Bucknell Univeristy, Lewisberg,
Pennsylvania
- "The Parodic Power of Popular Imagery", (catalogue),
Bayside, New York
- Pate, Pattie, "Perceptions of the Figure", Art'Week,
Mar. 16, p. 16
- McGill, Douglas, "For Artists, New Paths to Success",
New York Times, April 11, p. C19
- Spin, June, pp. 17 & 18
- Spin, July, pp. 58 & 59
- New York Times, May 13, pp. A18 & A19
- Brennan, Mark, "Mark Kostabi, Lost Innocence", Manhattan
Arts, June, pp. 14-18
- New York Times, June 17, p. A19
- New Art Examiner, "Quote of the Month", June, p. 6
- Yoshida, Koichi, "Mark Kostabi", Illustration (Japan),
August, no. 35, pp. 46-49, 60-63
- O'Beil, Hedy, "Mark Kostabi", Arts, Sept.
- Heartney, Eleanor, "Mark Kostabi", ARTnews, Sept.
- Robinson, Waiter, "Mark Kostabi at Hal Bromm", Art in
America, Sept.
- Penn, Amy, "Brushing Up on Young Talent", New York Post,
Nov. 8
- Woolcock, Phyllis, "More than just a salesman", The
Australian, Sept. 14
- Follent, Sarah, "Blank faces fill the bill for look
at computer age", The Australian, Sept. 24
- Mossman, Tam, "Mark Kostabi's Sensuous Syntax", review
of show at Cava
- Rooney, Robert, "Young artists adding zeros to their
prices", The Australian, November
- Rooney, Robert, "USA in Super Rodneyvision", The Australian,
Nov. 12
- Penn, Amy, "Brushing Up On Young Talent", The New York
Post, Nov. 8
- Art & Artists, Nov./Dec., illustration
- The New York Times
- 1986
- The New York Times, Jan. 6, illustration
- Prince, Dinah, "The Royal Brushoff at Palladium", ("Downtown"),
Daily News, Jan. 10
- Jones, Alan, "Class of 1990", New York Talk, Jan.
- Kohen, "'Focus New York' hails latest in art", The Miami
Herald, Jan. 10
- Art & Artists, Jan./Feb., illustration
|