"Spring Polynesia"

MARK KOSTABI

Mark Kostabi was born in Los Angeles in 1960 to Estonian immigrants. An artist and composer, he grew up in Whittier, California, and studied drawing and painting at California State University, Fullerton. In 1982 he moved to New York and from 1984 became a prominent figure in the East Village art scene. During this period, with provocative intent, he published interviews with himself discussing the utilitarianism of contemporary art. Since 1987 his works have been exhibited in galleries in New York, the United States, Germany and Australia. In 1988 he founded Kostabi World in New York, a studio where he employs many assistants. Since 1996 he divides his time between New York and Rome, consequently the presence of his works in Italian galleries grows considerably. He also produces a cable TV show, Title This, where well-known art critics and celebrities compete to own his paintings for a fee. He writes and gives advice to artists on a column, Ask to Mark Kostabi, on Artnet.com. Kostabi has also done album cover art for American bands and artists, Guns 'N' Roses to name one, and designed industrial products from Swatch watches and computer accessories to the Giro d'Italia pink jersey. He has also worked in collaboration with artists such as Cucchi, Arman and Baj, among others. He has given concerts both as a soloist and with other musicians and his compositions are performed not only by other artists but also by symphony orchestras. Retrospectives of Kostabi were held at the Mitsukoshi Museum in Tokyo in 1992 and at the Art Museum in Tallinn, Estonia, in 1998. In 1983......... Kostabi's works are on permanent display at the Metropolitan Museum, the Guggenheim Museum and the Brooklyn Museum in New York, the National Gallery in Washington, the Galleria Nazionale di Arte Moderna in Rome, and the Groninger Museum in Holland. He has also created a mural in the Palazzo dei Priori in Arezzo, a large bronze sculpture in the main square of San Benedetto del Tronto and a bronze statue of Pope John XXIII in Velletri. Interviews and articles have appeared in many magazines and newspapers both domestic and foreign, CNN, Playboy, Forbes, New York Magazine, Corriere della Sera, Domus, The New York Times, Art, Flash Art, The Sunday Telegraph, and others, while among the books published on his work include Sadness because the video rental store was closed, The early years, conversation with Kostabi, The rhythm of inspiration, Mark Kostabi and the East Village scene 1983-1987, Mark Kostabi in the 21st century. He lives and works between Rome and Los Angeles and is one of the most celebrated artists in the world.