LOVE BOMBING, 2023
Heavy cotton, silk, wool, silk velvet and fleece
75 1/2 x 59 inches (192 x 150 cm)
Cosima von Bonin was born in 1962 in Mombasa, Kenya. She came of age in Cologne during the 1980s where she was part of the booming art scene; she still lives and works in the city. Most well-known for her sculptures and installations created from fabric and readymades, she often uses comedy and pop culture to question social constructions and relations.
In 2024, the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt and Mudam Luxembourg opened majors exhibition of her work. In 2022, her installation on the façade of the Giardini’s Central Pavilion welcomed visitors to the Cecilia Alemani-organized The Milk of Dreams at the 59th Venice Biennale. She has also participated in Skulptur Projekte Münster (2017), Glasgow International (2016), and Documenta (2007 & 1982). One-person exhibitions have taken place at CCS Bard, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York; Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany; Kemper Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri; Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne; Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam; Kunstverein in Hamburg; Magasin III Jaffa, Tel Aviv; mumok - Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna; Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; and SculptureCenter, Long Island City, New York, among others.
In 2016, Thomas Borgmann donated over a dozen major works by von Bonin including panels, sculptures, a room-sized installation as part of his gift to the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam – the second largest in the institution’s history. Her work is also a part of the Boros Collection, Berlin; Bundeskunstsammlung, Germany; Dallas Museum of Art; Deichtorhallen Hamburg; Metropolitan Museum, New York; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; mumok - Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; and Museum of Modern Art, New York, among others.
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
