Born in Austria in 1935, Kiki Kogelnik studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna before turning away from European Abstraction, eventually relocating to New York in the early 1960s and finding a community alongside artists including: Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg and Andy Warhol. In an era shaped by the Space Race and Cold War, Kogelnik became fascinated with the uncertainties and possibilities of a new, technology-driven future and the evolving representations of women's bodies. Kogelnik's paintings and drawings depict a world of dismembered techno-bodies and mechanically enhanced avatars floating aimlessly in vibrant, pop-like compositions reminiscent of the bold shapes and color planes associated with modern advertising.
Kogelnik started creating work in the early 1950s—by the 60s, she focused on the human form and outlines of body parts and by the 70s, there was an explicit focus on the portrayal and representation of women and the female figure. In 1971, Kogelnik created a series of works titled, "Women's Lib." The work depicts the artist standing valiantly with a pair of enormous scissors in hand and her iconic cut-outs at her feet. The same era brought her "Hanging" series—vinyl silhouettes, flopped over clothes hangers; a commentary on the fluidity of identity and the impermanence of the human body. Kogelnik returned to her hangings and to vinyl as a material, until the late-1980s. Those years also found Kogelnik distilling simplified forms into a language of paintings, ceramic wall works, and drawings that riffed on feminism and politics. The work of this time was very much in conversation with the punk and new wave culture that sprung up around her SoHo studio. Kogelnik’s work occupied its own cultural space, intersecting with various movements but always defying categorization on a larger scale.
Kiki Kogelnik (1935 - 1997) was born in Austria and lived and worked between Vienna and New York. Recent solo museum shows include Kiki Kogelnik – Inner Life (Kunsthalle Stavanger, Norway); Kiki Kogelnik: Fly Me to the Moon (Modern Art Oxford, UK); and I Have Seen the Future (Hamburger Kunstverein, Hamburg). She was the subject of major retrospectives at Österreichische Galerie Belvedere in Vienna, Austria in 1998 and at Kunsthalle Krems, Austria in 2013.
Born 1935 in Graz, Austria. Lived and worked in Vienna, Austria and New York, NY.
Died 1997 in Vienna, Austria.
SELECTED SOLO EXHBITIONS
2022
Kiki Kogelnik: This is your Life, curated by Anna Sauer, Werner Berg Museum, Bleiburg, Austria (Forthcoming)
2021
Kiki Kogelnik- Une vie sans art est une vie insensée Festival Le Printemps de Septembre, curated by David Lemaire, BBB Centre d’Art, Toulouse, France
Kiki Kogelnik: Falling, Kayne Griffin, Los Angeles, CA
2020
Kiki Kogelnik: Riot of Objects, MOSTYN, Wales, United Kingdom
Kiki Kogelnik: Les cyborgs ne sont pas respectueuses, curated by David Lemaire and Marie Gaitzsch, Musée des beaux-arts de La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
2019
Kiki Kogelnik, Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York, NY
2017
Dea ex machina, Gallery Natalie Seroussi, Paris, France
2016
Kiki Kogelnik. Works from 1962-1968, KÖNIG GALERIE, Berlin, Germany
2015
Fly Me to the Moon, Modern Art Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
2014
Cuts, Fissures and Identity: Works from the 1960s and 1970s, Simone Subal Gallery, New York, NY
No Coca-Cola, Johann König, Berlin, Germany
2013
Retrospektive, Kunsthalle Krems, Donau, Austria
2012
I have seen the future, Hamburger Kunstverein, Hamburg, Germany
Early works: 1964-1970, Simone Subal Gallery, New York, NY
2006
Strictly KIKI - Perfectly KOGELNIK, Galerie bei der Albertina, Vienna, Austria
2005
Werner Berg Galerie, Bleiburg, Austria
Kiki Kogelnik. Happy Birthday, Kunstlerhaus Klagenfurt, Austria
2004
Palais Liechtenstein, Feldkirch, Austria
2003
Baby remenber my name, Art Herberstein, Schloß Herberstein, Austria
1998
Retrospektive, 1935-1997, Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna, Austria
Karntner Landesgalerie, Klagenfurt, Austria
1996
Hanging, MAK - Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna, Austria
Kiki Kogelnik and the Venetian Heads, Chicago Athenaeum, Chicago, IL
1995
Venetian Heads, Österreiche Galerie, Belvedere, Vienna, Austria
Glass & Graphics, Gallery next Gritti, Venice, Italy
1994
Expansions/Sterotypes, Metsna Galerija, Ljubljana, Slovenia
1993
Palac Kultury I Nauki, Warsaw, Poland
Palac Sztuki, Krakow, Poland
1992
Expansions - 30 Year New York, Ernst Museum, Budapest, Hungary; Galerie Úluv, Prague, Czech Republic
1990
Inside the Clone Factory, Henry Gallery, Washington D.C.
1989
Kiki Kogelnik. Retrospektive, Karntner Landesgalerie, Klagenfurt, Austria
1986
Broadway Windows, New York, NY
1983
BAWAG Foundation, Vienna, Austria
1982
Galerie Ulysses, Vienna, Austria
1980
Graphics, Gallery One, Montclair State University - College of the Arts, Montclair, NJ
1978
Galerie Kornfeld, Zurich, Switzerland
1977
Jack Gallery, New York, NY
1973
Retrospektive. Kiki Kogelnik, Kunstlerhaus Klagenfurt, Klagenfurt, Austria
1969
Moonhappening Apollo II, Galerie nachst St Stephan, Vienna, Austria
1967
Kunst kommt von kunstlich, Galerie nachst St Stephan, Vienna, Austria
1965
Austrian Institute, New York, NY
1964
Jerrold Morris International Gallery Limited, Toronto, Canada
1961
Galerie nachst St. Stephan, Vienna, Austria
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2022
Future Bodies from a Recent Past: Sculpture, Technology, and the Body Since the 1950s, curated by Patrizia Dander and Franziska Linhardt, Museum Brandhorst, Munich, Germany (Forthcoming)
Party for Öyvind, curated by Barbro Schultz Lundestam, Museum Tinguely, Basel, Switzerland (Forthcoming)
Amazons of Pop – Women artists, icons, superheroines 1961-1973, curated by Hélène Guenin and Géraldine Gourbe, Kunsthaus Graz, Austria (Forthcoming)
2021
Image to Image – European Figurative Art from 1960s and 1970s, Curated by Daniel and Gunnar Kvaran, Serbian Academy of Arts and Science, Heritage House, Belgrade
Avant-Garde and the Contemporary, The Belvedere Collection from Lassnig to Knebl, Vienna, Austria
Les Flammes, L’Age de la ceramique, Musée d’Art Moderne (MAM), Paris, France
Plastic Heart: Surface All the Way Through, curated by Synthetic Collective, Art Museum University of Toronto, Canada
Party for Öyvind, curated by Barbro Schultz Lundestam, Sven-Harrys, Konstmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden
She-Bam Pow POP Wizz! The Amazons of POP, curated by Hélène Guenin and Géraldine Gourbe, Musée d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain (MAMAC), Nice, France; Kunsthalle zu Kiel, Germany
2020
She-Bam Pow POP Wizz! The Amazons of POP, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Nice, France
The Unremarkableness of Disobedient Desire, Lucie Drdova Gallery, Prague, CZE
Painting, Kayne Griffin Corcoran, Los Angeles, CA
The Beginning. Art in Austria, 1945–1980, Albertina Modern, Vienna, Austria
2019
This Skin of Ours, curated by Liz Park, Miller Institute for Contemporary Art, Pittsburgh, PA
Kiki Kogelnik, Julia Scher, Erika Vogt, Lisa Williamson, Curated by Tif Sigfrids, Dodd Galleries, University of Georgia, Athens
Fly Me to the Moon, curated by Thorsten Sadowsky, Christina Penetsdorfer and Tine Teufel, Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
A Detached Hand, organized by Nicole Will, Magenta Plains, NY
Surrogates, Kayne Griffn Corcoran, Los Angeles, CA
A Woman Looking at Men Looking at Women, Curated by Kasia Redzisz, Museu Susch, Susch, Switerzland
2017
The problem with having a body / is that it always needs to be somewhere, The Approach, London, United Kingdom
Kiki Kogelnik - Inner Life, Kunsthalle Stavanger, Norway
Sans titre (2016), vol. 3: Eros, Sans titre, Paris, France
Le Nouveau Voyeurisme, Hotel Contemporary, hosted at Secondo Pensiero, Milan, Italy
When it has't been your day, your week, your month or even your year, Weekends, Paris, France,
Condo 2017, Emalin, hosting Gregor Staiger, London, United Kingdom
2016
Salone del Mobile, Fiera Milano Rho, Milano, Italy
Seduction of Cyborg, Barro Arte Contemporaneo, Buenos Aires, Argentina
OTHER PEOPLE'S FEELINGS, Johann König | Dessauer Straße, Berlin, Germany
We Pioneers. Trailblazers of Postwar Modernism, Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna, Austria
Kiki Kogelnik, Kunsthall Stavanger, Norway
Lira Gallery, Rome, Italy
la femme visible, Galerie Natalie Seroussi, Paris, France
I Am Silver, Foxy Production, New York, NY
Skins: Body as Matter and Process, Garth Greenan Gallery, New York, NY
Fokus sammlung, Meisterwerke , Museum Moderner Kunst Kärnten (MMKK), Klagenfurt, Austria
Aktuelle Ausstellungen im Schloss Ebenau, Galerie Walker, Weizelsdorf, Germany
Untitled Body Parts, Simone Subal Gallery, New York, NY
2015
Mother of the year, LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz, Linz, Austria
Pop in Space. We Choose to Go to the Moon., WAVE/ Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Wolverhampton, United Kingdom
The EY Exhibition: The World Goes Pop, Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom
2014
I Multiplied Myself to Feel Myself, Kunstraum Niederösterreich, Austria
4 x 4, Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2010
Seductive Subversion: Woman Pop Artists 1958-1968, The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA; Sheldon Art Museum, Lincoln, NE; Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY; Tufts University Art Gallery, Medford, MA
POWER UP - Female Pop Art, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria
Kiki Kogelnik - Werner Berg, Werner Berg Museum, Bleiburg, Austria
2008
K08. Emanzipation und Konfrontation. Kunst aus Karnten 1945 bis heute, MMKK - Museum Moderne Kunst Karnten, Klagenfurt, Austria; Werner Berg Museum, Bleiburg, Austria
2007
Wien - Paris. Van Gogh, Cezanne und Österreichs Moderne, Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna, Austria
2006
PunkEcho - Widerhall von Überall, Brotfabrik Galerie, Berlin, Germany
Facing 1200°. Glasskulpturen der Berengo Collection Venedig, MMKK - Museum Moderne Kunst Karnten, Klagenfurt, Austria
2004
Gegen-Positionen - Kunstlerinnen in Österreich 1960-2000, Museum Moderne Kunst, Stiftung Worlen, Passau, Germany
2003
Mimosen, Rosen, Herbstzeitlosen - Kunstlerinnen von 1945 bis zur Gegenwart, Kunsthalle Krems, Austria
2002
Artists in Glass, National Crafts Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
2001
In the Name of Painting - Austrian Female Painters Now, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, Hungary
1999
Skin-Deep, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel
I Love Pop, Chiostro del Bramante, Rome, Italy
Jahrhundert der Frauen, Bank Austria Kunstforum, Vienna, Austria
1997
The Secret of Murano, Museum Het Paleis, The Hague, The Netherlands
1996
Kunst aus Österreich 1896-1996, Kunst- und Ausstelungshalle der BRD, Bonn, Germany
1986
Zeichen und Gesten - Informelle Tendenzen in Österreich, Secession, Vienna, Austria
1985
Six Austrian Artists, The Art Society of the International Monetary Fund, Washington D.C.
1983
Die Sammlung Otto Mauer, Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna, Austria
1979
Museum of Drawers, Kunsthaus Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
1975
Color Light & Images, Women's Interart Center, New York, NY
1973
Prints and Graphic Works from Austria, International Art Center, Ottawa, Canada
1972
GEDOK American Woman Artists Show, Kunsthaus Hamburg, Germany
1966
Austrian Artists in the United States, Austrian Institute, New York, NY
1965
Pop Op Art - Abstract Expressionism, Gertrude Castle Gallery, Detroit, MI
Six Women Artists, Fischbach Gallery, New York, NY
1956
Junge Talente stellen sich vor, Karntner Landesmuseum, Klagenfurt, Austria
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Albertina, Vienna, Austria
Bank Austria Art Collection, Vienna, Austria
Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Collection of the City of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Collection of the Republic of Austria, Vienna, Austria
Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Winter Park, FL
Cornig Museum of Glass, Cornig, NY
Dom Museum Wien, Vienna, Austria
Essl Museum - Kunst der Gegenwart, Klosterneuburg, Austria
Fondation Gandur pour l’Art, Geneva, Switzerland
Fondazione Fiera Milano, Milan, Italy
Hammer Museum, Grundwald Center Collection, Los Angeles, CA
Kunstforum Bank Austria Collection, Vienna, Austria
Lentos Kunstmuseum, Linz, Austria
Leopold Museum (Collection Leopold II), Vienna, Austria
Liaunig Museum, Neuhaus, Austria
mumok – museum moderner kunst stiftung ludwig wien, Vienna, Austria
Museum Moderner Kunst Kärnten, Klagenfurt, Austria
National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington D.C.
Österreichische Galerie Belvedere (Belvedere 21), Vienna, Austria
Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR
Sammlung Infeld, Vienna, Austria
Strabag Kunstforum, Vienna, Austria
The George Economou Collection, Athens, Greece
The Snite Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame, IN