Cosima von Bonin

Cosima von Bonin (b. 1962, Mombasa, Kenya) Cosima von Bonin 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 major exhibitions 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