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Cosima von Bonin, Rockstars (Character
Appropriation), 2003. Wool, cotton, and loden, 108 1/4 x 110 1/4”.
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis. University
purchase, Parsons Fund, and with funds from Mrs. Mark C. Steinberg, by exchange,
2003.
Based in Cologne, Germany, conceptual
artist Cosima von Bonin is among the most influential yet elusive artists of her
generation. At once playful, seductive and satirical, her wide-ranging creative
practice interweaves sculpture, installation, video, textiles, performance and
electronic music with a diverse network of collaborators. In her choice of
materials (fabric, stuffed animals, slick minimalist sculptural objects), scale
(often oversized) and eclectic subject matter (fatigue, cartoon characters,
luxury lifestyle branding, pop culture), von Bonin creatively juxtaposes
personal biography and art historical lineages while critically alluding to more
sobering themes of global consumerism, gender inequality and social
apathy.
This summer, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum will
present Cosima von
Bonin: Character Appropriation, the artist’s first solo museum
exhibition in the American Midwest. Organized by associate curator Meredith
Malone, the exhibition will survey the last decade of von Bonin’s career.
Inspired by the Kemper Art Museum’s acquisition of Rockstars
(Character Appropriation) (2003), an early example of the artist’s
signature textile “paintings,” the exhibition also will present
examples of von Bonin’s architectural sculptures, outsized stuffed
animals, and her latest works that embrace themes of idleness and mental and
physical fatigue. Several exhausted stuffed animals will be accompanied by
soundtracks composed by von Bonin’s collaborator, electronic music pioneer
Moritz von
Oswald.
According to Malone, “it is
impossible not to be entranced with Cosima von Bonin’s playful works. Her
huge, floppy stuffed animals, outsized rockets, and large-scale textile
‘paintings’ exude a certain seductiveness and absurdity though one
shot through with sardonic wit. Cosima von Bonin: Character
Appropriation explores the artist’s multidisciplinary practice and
her ongoing engagement with complex social issues, including a rising social
apathy infiltrating today’s networked society. I am thrilled to be
bringing the work of such an engaging and internationally renowned contemporary
artist to St.
Louis.”
Exhibition
brochure
Character Appropriation will be
accompanied by an illustrated brochure featuring an essay by Malone as well as a
new installment in a series of scripted conversations between von Bonin and
Daffy Duck, written by von Bonin’s longtime collaborator Dirk von Lowtzow,
a Berlin-based musician and art
critic.
About the
artist
Born in 1962 in Mombasa, Kenya, von Bonin
lives and works in Cologne. In 2010, the Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria, presented
The Fatigue Empire, a comprehensive one-person exhibition of the
artist’s recent works. It was shortly followed by von Bonin’s
Lazy Susan Series, A Rotating Exhibition, with venues at the Witte de
With Rotterdam (October 2010 to January 2011); Arnolfini Bristol (February to
April 2011); MAMCO, Geneva (June to September 2011); and Museum Ludwig, Cologne
(July to October
2011).
Von Bonin’s first major U.S.
survey, Roger and Out, opened in 2007 at the Museum of Contemporary
Art, Los Angeles. Other institutional one-person exhibitions have taken place at
Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne (2004); Kunstverein Hamburg, Germany (2001);
Kunstverein Braunschweig, Germany (2000); and Kunsthalle St. Gallen, Switzerland
(1999). In addition, von Bonin has participated in group exhibitions at the
Museum of Modern Art in New York; Les Abbatoirs in Toulouse, France; and
Documenta XII in Kassel, Germany, among many
others.
Her work is included in many notable
collections worldwide, including the Tate Britain in London; the Museum für Neue
Kunst im ZKM in Karlsruhe, Germany; and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam; as
well as the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the Museum of Modern Art,
New York; and the Mildred Lane Kemper Art
Museum.
Mildred Lane Kemper Art
Museum
The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, part
of Washington University's Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, is
committed to furthering critical thinking and visual literacy through a vital
program of exhibitions, publications and accompanying events. The museum dates
back to 1881, making it the oldest art museum west of the Mississippi River.
Today it boasts one of the finest university collections in the United
States.
Support for the exhibition is provided by
James M. Kemper, Jr.; the David Woods Kemper Memorial Foundation; John and
Anabeth Weil; the Hortense Lewin Art Fund; and members of the Mildred Lane
Kemper Art
Museum.
Cosima von Bonin: Character Appropriation
will open with a public reception from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, May 6, followed
by an afterparty at Atomic Cowboy featuring a computerized dub set by von
Bonin’s collaborator Mortiz von Oswald at 10 p.m. The exhibition will
remain on view through Aug. 1. Both the reception and the exhibition are free
and open to the public. The Kemper Art Museum is located on Washington
University’s Danforth Campus, immediately adjacent to Steinberg Hall, near
the intersection of Skinker and Forsyth boulevards. Regular hours are 11 a.m. to
6 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays; 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays; and 11 a.m.
to 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. The Museum is closed
Tuesdays.
For more information, call (314)
935-4523 or visit kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu.
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CALENDAR
SUMMARY
WHO: Mildred Lane Kemper Art
Museum
WHAT: Exhibition, Cosima von
Bonin: Character Appropriation
WHEN: May 6 to Aug. 1. Opening
reception 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, May
6.
WHERE: Mildred Lane Kemper Art
Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, near the intersection of Forsyth and
Skinker
boulevards.
HOURS: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday,
Wednesday and Thursdays; 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays; 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays
and Sundays. Closed
Tuesdays.
COST: Free and open to the
public.
INFORMATION: (314) 935-4523 or
www.kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu
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URL: http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/22123.aspx
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