1. Mark Kostabi was raised in Whittier, California and studied drawing and painting at California State University, Fullerton.
15 Facts About Mark Kostabi
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Mark Kostabi is most known for his paintings of faceless figures which often comment on contemporary political, social and psychological issues, and which have visual stylistic roots in the work of Giorgio de Chirico and Fernand Leger.
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Beyond traditional art world exposure, Mark Kostabi has designed album covers for Guns N' Roses and The Ramones, Seether, Jimmy Scott, Glint, RK: Roman Klun, Psychotica and numerous products including a Swatch watch, Alessi vases, Rosenthal espresso cups, Ritzenhoff milk glasses, and a Giro d'Italia pink jersey.
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Mark Kostabi is known for his many collaborations with other artists including Enzo Cucchi, Arman, Howard Finster, Tadanori Yokoo, Enrico Baj and Paul Mark Kostabi.
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Retrospective exhibitions of Mark Kostabi's paintings have been held at the Mitsukoshi Museum in Tokyo and the Art Museum of Estonia in Tallinn.
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Mark Kostabi's work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, the National Gallery in Washington DC, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Yale University Art Gallery the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome and the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands.
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Mark Kostabi's work was published on the cover of the book East Village '85 published by Pelham Press and his paintings were included prominently in numerous East Village shows in museums and galleries internationally.
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The critic, curator and TV personality Vittorio Sgarbi curated a 150 painting Mark Kostabi show at the Chiostro del Bramante in Rome in 2006.
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In Mark Kostabi's works there is an extensive range of citation and self-citation, which are typically postmodern techniques.
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In 1989, Mark Kostabi was mentioned in the TV series Miami Vice, in Season 5, episode 14: "The Lost Madonna".
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In 1991, Mark Kostabi was mentioned in the controversial novel American Psycho, by Bret Easton Ellis.
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Mark Kostabi is the subject of numerous documentary films, most notably Bottom Line: The Mark Kostabi Phenomenon directed by Peter Bach, Con Artist directed by Michael Sladek, and Jedermann directed by Paul Tschinkel.
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Mark Kostabi has a prominent role in the Emmy award-winning documentary The Art of Failure: Chuck Connelly Not for Sale directed by Jeff Stimmel.
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Mark Kostabi produces a cable TV show, The Mark Kostabi Show, where noted art critics and celebrities compete to title his paintings for cash awards.
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The Mark Kostabi Show was previously known as both Name That Painting and Title This.