Kiki Kogelnik
1935 – 1997 / Austrian painter, sculptor, installation artist and graphic artist
“Being an artist is not a profession, rather a form of existence – a passionate way of being human.”
After completing her art studies in Vienna and spending time in Paris, 27-year-old Kiki Kogelnik moved to the art metropolis of New York, where she soon made a name for herself. Kogelnik associated with leading figures of the pop art movement, and before long the vivacious and quirky young artist had formed close friendships with Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg and Sam Francis.
Experiments at the cutting edge
Kogelnik was able to develop her own unique style within the male-dominated art scene. She was always at the cutting edge of new trends – for example, exploring public enthusiasm for space travel in her “Space Art” and employing innovative materials in her installations. She was fascinated by incorporeal consumer society, and created her trademark “cut-outs” and “hangings” – silhouettes of her famous friends – to question the human body in its social, political and intimate roles. At an early stage of her work she began addressing the female role in commercial advertising and employed irony and a pop aesthetic to examine feminist themes. The scissors, her favourite motif, became a “woman’s weapon”.
In the shadow of Warhol & co.
As well as various solo exhibitions in Vienna and New York, Kogelnik’s works have been shown in Canada, Switzerland, Germany, Britain, Italy and other European countries. Despite the ongoing presentation of her multi-faceted and visionary oeuvre, which grew continuously over several decades, the name Kiki Kogelnik remains in the shadow of Andy Warhol and other male pop artists.
“Scissors are a familiar motif in Kogelnik’s work, but hands are a recurring theme as well. The hands of the artist who is suddenly able to create art herself and thus to shift from a passive to an active role. That is what hands represent in her work.”
Das gesamte Werk von Kiki Kogelnik ist durchzogen von dieser Freude am Subversiven, am Konventionellen/Unkonventionellen, am Spiel und am gleichzeitig unangestrengten Karikieren herrschender Verhältnisse.