MOCA LA To Present First Solo US Show

Of German Artist Cosima Von Bonin

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Cosima von Bonin, “Hundeschule/Obedience School,” Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, 2004. —Michael Straßburger and Dejan Saric photo

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MOCALA TO PRESENT FIRST SOLO US SHOW OF GERMAN ARTIST w/1 cut

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LOS ANGELES, CALIF. — The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) will present “Cosima von Bonin: Roger and Out,” the first solo museum exhibition in the United States of the work of German artist Cosima von Bonin. Organized by MOCA senior curator Ann Goldstein, the exhibition will be on view at MOCA Grand Avenue September 16–January 7 and includes approximately 50 works from 1990 to present and several new sculptures created on the occasion of the exhibition.

One of the most influential artists of her generation in German, von Bonin has been working for more than 15 years in a wide-ranging and diverse practice that includes sculpture, photography, textile “paintings,” installation, performance, film, video and music — often combined together in large-scale installations. Blending together references from a broad range of sources, including the work of other artists, popular and vernacular culture, television, fashion and electronic music, her work utilizes these different cultural phenomena in an open, fluid approach that embraces their contradictions and relationships to each other.

The title of the exhibition comes from the artist, and touches upon her ongoing interest in cultural vernacular references, including maritime and military themes and accoutrements of institutionalized conformity.

The exhibition includes pieces from the early 1990s, such as untitled (Krebber uber Krebber), 1990, a subtly altered appropriation of a 1970s gallery advertisement, as well as selections from her textile “paintings” from the early 2000s, in which drawings and fragments of found images and texts are transcribed through sewing. Her large-scale multimedia installation “Kapitulation/Capitulation,” 2004, is also included. The work is a constellation of connected rooms that had previously been sets used for the production of a performance video and was produced for her 2004 exhibition, “2 Positions at Once,” at the Kolnischer Kunstverein in Germany. In addition, von Bonin will produce several new sculptures on the occasion of the exhibition.

The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles is at 250 South Grand Avenue. For information, 213-626-6222 or www.moca.org.