Cosima von Bonin

Cosima von Bonin (born 1962) is a German contemporary artist whose practice includes sculptures, textiles, sound, film, and performances.

Von Bonin draws inspiration from the intellectual, artistic, and musical culture of her neighborhood in Cologne, Germany, where she lives and works with her husband, Michael Krebber.

She is known for being a political artist as well as by her humor, aquatic caricatures, and use of pop-culture characters, such as Daffy Duck.

Cosima von Bonin was born in Mombasa, Kenya and raised in Austria.

Von Bonin graduated from the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Hamburg (University of Fine Arts in Hamburg), where she studied art under the tutelage of Martin Kippenberger and assistant Michael Krebber.

Von Bonin said that she met many important figures while in college, figures such as Friedrich Petzel, Jutta Koether, and Diedrich Diederischsen.

When von Bonin was still a student, her first memorable work was in a collaboration with Josef Strau, in which von Bonin exhibited herself in a window display at a Hamburg showroom in 1990.

One focus of von Bonin's artistic works is the relationship between works of art and the world of fashion, music and architecture.

She often focuses on collective artistic production frequently including collaboration with other artists, artists such as Dirk von Lowtzow, Michael Krebber, Mark von Schlegell, Kai Althoff, and many others.

Von Bonin has a large array of works and a vast amount of materials that she uses within her extensive volume of artworks.

She has utilized small objects, plush toys, cardboard, sound equipment, short films, photo-based pieces, and even cardboard replicas of previous pieces.

Von Bonin's use of textiles has received praise regarding her tapestry works.

Von Bonin has worked in different venues as well, such as parties, DJ sets, music performances and audio and video exhibitions.

Von Bonin personally does not include the meanings of her works, art critics Jan Avgikos and Holly Myers, feel that understanding von Bonin’s works can be difficult or frustrating for this reason.

There are a few articles where von Bonin talks about why she purposely does not convey the insight of her pieces, Thomas Gebremedhin from The Wall Street Journal and Eleanor Heartney with The Brooklyn Rail, have brief discussions with her over this topic.

Throughout her career, von Bonin has been described as bringing play and fun into her work.

Von Bonin is known to use humor in her works and works mainly in collaborations, it has been pointed out by art critics like Nuit Banai and Jan Avgikos, that the employment of humor may be utilized to make her seem elusive.

She has been called a political artist as well, especially when describing her work in her sixth solo exhibition, "'What if it Barks?'".

Her work has been compared to Sigmar Polke, Martin Kippenberger, and Rosemarie Trockel, some of the artists that von Bonin claimed influenced her early career are André Cadere, Marcel Broodthaers, Cady Noland, and Mike Kelley.

Cosima von Bonin's art can be found in a number of public collections, including: