Cosima von Bonin

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

Career Highlights

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

Complete CV

Selected Works

Selected Works Thumbnails

LOVE BOMBING, 2023

Heavy cotton, silk, wool, silk velvet and fleece

75 1/2 x 59 inches (192 x 150 cm)

CHURCH OF DAFFY, 2023

Acrystal, cotton, wood, lacquer

70 x 58 x 34 inches (177 x 147 x 86 cm)

GASLIGHTING, 2023

Silk, cotton, wool, silk velvet and fleece

79 1/2 x 59 3/4 inches (202 x 152 cm)

LE PRIMITIF DU FUTUR, 2008

Cotton, wool, metal, glass

57.09 x 106.3 x 125.98 inches (145 x 270 x 320 cm)

Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam

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TOTAL PRODUCE (MORALITY), 2010

Various fabrics, polyfill, foam materials, rubber, wood, neon tubes

86.6 x 86.6 x 23.6 inches; 220 x 220 x 60 cm

Metropolitan Museum, New York

SEASONS IN THE ABYSS, 2006
Fabric, fill, glass

Dimensions variable

Magasin III, Stockholm

THE BONIN / OSWALD EMPIRE'S NOTHING #04 (CVB'S PURPLE KIKOY SLOTH RABBIT ON PINK TABLE &MVO'S KIKOY SONG), 2010

Mixed media

66 x 81 x 33 inches (167.6 x 205.7 x 83.8 cm)

Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria

EMPIRE'S NOTHING #02 (CVB'S HERMIT CRAB IN FAKE ROYERE &amp; MVO'S HERMIT CRAB (FAKE ROYERE) SONG), 2010, Steel, cotton, mohair velour, felt

EMPIRE'S NOTHING #02 (CVB'S HERMIT CRAB IN FAKE ROYERE & MVO'S HERMIT CRAB (FAKE ROYERE) SONG), 2010

Steel, cotton, mohair velour, felt
72.83 x 45.28 x 37.4 inches (185 x 115 x 95 cm)

Magasin III, Stockholm

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)

Magasin III, Stockholm

THE BONIN / OSWALD EMPIRE'S NOTHING #09 (CVB'S NOTHING #9 (FOCUS) & MVO'S FOCUS SONG), 2010

Wool, cotton

125.2 x 116.54 inches (318 x 296 cm)

Museum Ludwig, Cologne

Untitled (Bikini Loop #1), 1990

Flag fabric

Dimensions variable

Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles

RORSCHACHTEST #4, 2006

Cotton, linen

89.76 x 111.02 inches (228 x 282 cm)

Dallas Museum of Art

KILLER WHALE WITH LONG EYELASHES I (RHINO* VERSION)

*Rhino by Renate Mueller, Germany, 1960s, 2018

Fabric, leather, canvas, wooden chair

42 x 105 x 39 inches (106.7 x 266.7 x 99.1 cm)

AU PAIRS, 2018

Cotton and wool covering cardboard, wooden table

55 x 72 x 84 inches (139.7 x 182.9 x 213.4 cm)

UNTITLED (THE GREEN DONKEY WITH HAT AND BOX &amp; APRONS), 2006, Various materials

UNTITLED (THE GREEN DONKEY WITH HAT AND BOX & APRONS), 2006

Various materials
64 x 32 1/4 x 56 inches (162.6 x 81.9 x 142.2 cm)

Exhibition Views

Exhibition Views Thumbnails

Cosima von Bonin: Feelings. Installation view, 2014. Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt. Photo: Norbert Miguletz.

Installation view, 2023. The High Line, New York. Photo: Timothy Schenck.

The Milk of Dreams. Installation view, 2022. Venice Biennale, Central Pavilion.

The Milk of Dreams. Installation view, 2022. Venice Biennale, Central Pavilion. Photo: Marco Cappelletti.

The Milk of Dreams. Installation view, 2022. Venice Biennale, Central Pavilion.

The Milk of Dreams. Installation view, 2022. Venice Biennale, Central Pavilion. Photo: Marco Cappelletti.

Cosima von Bonin: Ocean and Caffeine. Installation view, 2019. Magasin III, Jaffa, Israel.

Jump into the future: Art from the 90's and 2000's. The Borgmann Donation. Installation view, 2018. Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. Photo: G.J. van Rooij.

Cosima von Bonin &amp; Tom Burr: Benz Bonin Burr. Installation view, 2017. Skulptur Projekte Münster, Westfälischer Kunstverein.

Cosima von Bonin & Tom Burr: Benz Bonin Burr. Installation view, 2017. Skulptur Projekte Münster, Westfälischer Kunstverein.

Cosima von Bonin: Who’s Exploiting Who in the Deep Sea?. Installation view, 2016. Glasgow International, Gallery Of Modern Art, Glasgow. Photo: Ruth Clark.