Background
Cosima von Bonin was born in 1964, in Mombasa, Kenya, and raised in Austria.
Lerchenfeld 2, 22081 Hamburg, Germany
Cosima graduated from the University of Fine Arts of Hamburg.
Cosima von Bonin was born in 1964, in Mombasa, Kenya, and raised in Austria.
Cosima graduated from the University of Fine Arts of Hamburg.
Von Bonin first stepped into the spotlight in the 1990's, when she invited other artists, art critics and musicians to present their own works at her New York exhibition. She questions the function of the author and often invites other artists and musicians to collaborate with her on her installations.
Among Cosima's important solo exhibitions are "Cosima von Bonin: Roger and Out", Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2008), "The Fatigue Empire", Kunsthaus Bregenz (2010), "Cosima von Bonin", Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum (2011) and "Hippies use side door" (2014-2015), "For Lazy Lobsters", Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco, California (2018) and others.
Her selected group exhibitions include "First Graz Fan Fest" (1995), "Glockengeschrei nach Deutz — das Beste aller Seiten" ("The Bell Screams Towards Deutz — the Best of all Sides") (1996), "Home Sweet Home", Deichtorhallen (1997) and Documenta 12 (2007), "Die Zelle" (The Cube), Kunsthalle Bern, Bern, Switzerland, and many others.
Also, between 2000 and 2001, von Bonin served as a visiting professor at the University of Fine Arts of Hamburg.
Currently, Cosima lives and works in Cologne, Germany.
Dollops of Whimsy
Am I Too Loud?
Untitled (Suite of 8 Silkscreens)
Dirk's Mates (Pierre, Aal, Hund)
"Color Wheel" For Parkett 81
Smoke
George
Miss Riley
SCHMOLLEN - WORAN LIEGTS?
Untitled (The Purple Saint Bernard with Box)
Yellow/Red/Blue
Untitled (The Donkey with Box and Hat)
Internationales Wollsekretariat
Guache Caviar
Non-Zero Enthusiasm
Ohne Titel (fence)
A Life Coach Less Ordinary
Ohne Titel (champignon no. 78)
At once playful, seductive and satirical, Cosima's 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.
Another typical feature of her work is a complex network of relations between the fine arts and music, that she has established, including longstanding colleagues and friends in her exhibition projects.