Cosima von Bonin
WHAT IF IT BARKS 6 (PETITE VERSION WITH BLACK UKULELE)
2018
Plastic, fabric, wood, cardboard pedestal, chain, ukulele
43 x 23 x 20 inches
109.2 x 58.4 x 50.8 cm
Cosima von Bonin (b. 1962, Mombasa, Kenya)
Born in 1962 in Mombasa, Kenya, Cosima von Bonin lives and works in Cologne. She is a conceptual sculpture and installation artist, often using fabric, wood, film, music, and found objects to create scenes referencing craft and pop culture. Von Bonin takes on themes of social relations, identity, and appropriation while still incorporating humor.
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 House of Gaga, Los Angeles (2020); Marianne Boesky Gallery, Aspen (2019); CCS Bard, Annandale-on-Hudson (2018); Oakville Galleries, Ontario (2017); Sculpture Center, New York (2016); Glasgow International, Glasgow (2016); MUMOK, Vienna (2014); Artipelag, Gustavsberg (2013); Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, St. Louis (2011); Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2011); Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva (2011); Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne (2004); Kunstverein Hamburg, Germany (2001); Kunstverein Braunschweig, Germany (2000), and Kunsthalle St. Gallen, Switzerland (1999). Additonally, von Bonin has participated in group exhibitions at the House of Gaga, Cologne (2022); the de la Cruz Collection, Miami (2021); the Museum of Contemporary Art, Busan (2021); Villa Carmignac, Porquerolles Island (2020); Kunsthalle Nürberg, Nürberg (2019); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2017); Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rennes, Rennes (2014); Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2009); Museum of Modern Art, New York (2009); Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Cologne (2008); and Documenta XII, Kassel, Germany (2007), among many others. Von Bonin also participated in the Venice Biennale of 2022.
Her work is included in many notable collections worldwide, including the Tate Britain in London; Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Museum für Neue Kunst im ZKM in Karlsruhe; Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, St. Louis; de la Cruz Collection, Miami; and the Museum Ludwig, Cologne.
Since 2000, and right up through her major Chelsea shows at FPG in 2003 and 2006 and at Documenta 12, von Bonin’s large- scale “Lappen” – painting-like compositions of readymade textiles hand-stitched with figures and texts – have been her signature product. These works recall both Sigmar Polke’s famous use of mass-produced textiles as supports for paintings and Mike Kelley’s hand-crafted banners, not to mention Sergej Jensens’s recent “Paintings” made of found fabrics. In von Bonin’s case, the materials she chooses often come precharged with contemporary lifestyle signifiers, either because the prints are identifiable as Laura Ashley or Marks & Spencer, or because here and there she appropriates an Yves Saint Laurent shopping bag or adds designer Martin Margiela’s signature X stitch to a composition. At once folksy and luxurious, DIY and gallery-friendly, von Bonin’s expensive rags extend a territory where art and fashion immediately abandon their difference.
John Kelsey, “Roger and Out, The Mollusk of Reference,” Artforum, 2007
Roger and Out, 2007, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
1962 Born in Mombasa, Kenya
1993 Exhibits in the group exhibition Parallax View at MoMA PS1 alongside Michael Krebber, Mark Dion, David Robbins, Andrea Fraser, Heimo Zobernig, Susan Grayson, and Jutta Koether
1995 Martin Kippenberger invites von Bonin to stage a performance at his Museum of Modern Art Syros in Greece
2003 Inaugural exhibition with Petzel Gallery
2007 Von Bonin’ first major US exhibition opens at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Participates in documenta 12
2010 Debuts new commission The Idlers Playground at Sculpture International Rotterdam
Cosima von Bonin: The Fatigue Empire opens at Kunsthaus Bregenz
Who’s Exploiting Who in the Deep Sea?, 2016, Glasgow International
2011 Kemper Art Museum in St. Louis hosts von Bonin’s exhibition Character Appropriation
2014 Exhibits over 100 works in one of her largest exhibitions to date, HIPPIES USE SIDE DOOR. THE YEAR 2014 HAS LOST THE PLOT, at Mumok in Vienna
2016-17 Exhibits Who’s Exploiting Who in the Deep Sea at Glasgow International; SculptureCenter, Long Island City, New York; and Oakville Galleries, Canada
2018 Von Bonin’s eighth show at Petzel WHAT IF IT BARKS? Featuring Authority Purée opens
2019 Magasin III Jaffa in Tel Aviv presents her exhibition Ocean and Caffeine
The Italian, Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York
WHAT IF IT BARKS? Featuring Authority Purée, 2018, Petzel Gallery, New York
Who’s Exploiting Who in the Deep Sea?, 2016, Glasgow International
HIPPIES USE SIDE DOOR. THE YEAR 2014 HAS LOST THE PLOT, 2014, Mumok, Vienna
Cosima von Bonin’s, FAR NIENTE FOR WITTE DE WITH’S SLOTH SECTION Loop #1 of the Lazy Susan Series / A Rotating Exhibition, 2010, Witte de With, Rotterdam
Roger and Out, 2007, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
The Fatigue Empire, 2010, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria
