Mark Kostabi: Jedermann

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Mark Kostabi, along with Keith Haring, Jeff Koons, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Kenny Scharf and others, emerged in the 1980’s as a member of a group of East Village artists who set out to redefine the role of the artist and art. Like Haring’s ‘Crawling Baby’ and Koons’ ‘Puppy’, Kostabi’s iconography includes the archetypal “Everyman’ figure – an androgynous, faceless, universal person that communicates easily and speaks directly with the public. Kostabi’s figures, which are still the basis of his art today, embody themes of dislocation that reflect loneliness and alienation in a complex world that is overwhelmed by media and technology.

Jedermann traces this artist’s prolific and circuitous development. Over the past 25 years, since his first appearance on the NY art scene, ART/new york has recorded Kostabi’s activities as an artist. Included is a painting sequence from 1986 in which the artist paints a 20 ft. version of Leonardo’s Last Supper in his Tribeca studio, a 30 ft. stencil painting on the rooftop of his Midtown studio in 1987, a 1996 visit to his SOHO ‘Kostabi World’ and footage from his TV show ‘Title This’ in SOHO in 2002. Also seen are exhibitions at the East Village and SOHO Semaphore Galleries, the Ronald Feldman Gallery in SOHO and the Adam Baumgold Gallery on 79th Street.

Interviews are with his first art dealer, Molly Barnes, critic and author, Glenn O’Brien, critic and editor of Paper Magazine, Carlo McCormick, and art dealer Adam Baumgold. Also included are interviews with Mark Kostabi that were conducted over a span of 25 years.

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