About the artist:

Imagine if a little kid walked into a museum and painted a scene of a house with trees -- on top of a Jackson Pollock, leaving a smidgeon of the Pollock exposed in the lower left corner. That's just one of the many original and aggressive ideas you'll find in Paul Kostabi's paintings. He is the brother of Mark Kostabi. Best known for his angst-ridden, ferocious, expressionistic self-portraits, Paul Kostabi has also accumulated an impressive body of landscapes, still lifes, pure abstractions and several comically rapacious appropriations of various contemporary artists including Julian Schnabel, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Giles Lyon. The psychically ravaged self-portrait is his most constant theme, but any time Paul feels like it, he'll bust out a mocking commentary of the pretentious scale and overblown egos of certain adored art stars, or he might sincerely explore the magical color possibilities of an otherworldly vase of flowers on a table. Paul Kostabi's work is fraught with careless care. He obviously loves painting, but is just as content to paint on low quality pre-gessoed student grade canvas as he is on the finest Belgium linen. He's like a Mozart who won't stop moving his fingers on any piano keys he sees -- you can pick up his body while his fingers keep moving and put him in front of a Hamburg Steinway or a broken toy piano and he will happily just keep on playing. Likewise, Paul will paint with equal passion for Mars Bar or MoMA, on torn cardboard or the best Arches watercolor paper. His only guide is the art spirit -- and even that he'll subvert if he feels like it. Recently, strange large words have appeared in his extremely layered work, like: "DARCO JOE ENA" and "CARE BAIP." The meanings are ambiguous and seem personal. The use of words are yet another graphic device Paul has lifted from the Modernist painting tradition, first explored by Picasso and later by Stuart Davis, Ed Ruscha, Mimmo Rotella, Julian Schnabel and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Paul's use of color has become increasingly more decisive and subtle. In the early 1980s, when Paul first exhibited in New York's Lower East Side, in galleries such as Casa Nada on Rivington Street, Paul's colors were frequently more primary, acidic and seemingly reckless in the East Village spirit. Now, without losing any energy, his colors often have an almost romantic, autumnal harmony. And the complex layering of painterly stokes at times recalls the recent paintings of Terry Winters or the poster lacerations of Mimmo Rotella. With all these sophisticated art historical underpinnings, one senses that many more discoveries are yet to be made. However, the present collection of diverse painterly achievements, which comprise Paul's first one-person show in Italy, is already more than satisfying. In recent years, the New York art world has witnessed a new obsession for ultra-slick, technically "perfect" work. This extreme "neatness? attitude of many young New York artists and dealers make California finish-fetish work from the 1960s seem like raw hobo art. Paul Kostabi's work is the antithesis of this Neo-analism. He prefers to drive a Rambler with a few scratches on it -- not a squeaky clean Lexus. SELECTED EXHIBITIONS 1983 Long Beach Poets Society, Long Beach, California 1984 Fashion Moda, group show, New York Casa Nada, New York 1985 No Se No, New York Ronald Feldman Gallery, group show, New York 1986 LACE Gallery, Los Angeles Edge Gallery, group show, Fullerton, California 1989 USA Gallery, New York 1990 Canegie Hall Gallery, New York 1991 Tunnel Gallery, New York 1994 Angel Orensanz Foundation, group show, New York 1995 ABC No Rio, group show, New York 1999 Great Linford Manor; Milton Keynes, England PANX, Toulouse, France 2001 Musical Tragedies, Internet show, Furth, Germany Destroy All Music, Silverlake, California Dark Delicacies, Burbank, California SPA, New York Lakeside Lounge, New York Max Fish, New York Taylors, photo show, New York 2002 Gallerie Haus, Nuremberg, Germany Ramones & Augsburg Festival, Rampe 3, Augsburg Saletta D'Arte Viviani, Pisa, Italy Knitting Factory, Los Angeles, California, (with Dee Dee Ramone) Studio Mondolibro Arte, Florence, Italy 2003 Rampe 3, Augsburg, Germany Spazi Arte, Piacenza, Italy Night of 1000 Drawings, Artists Space, New York Lucky Cat, New York Galerie Zero, Berlin, Germany Popkomm, Cologne, Germany 84 Ghz Gallery, Munich, Germany 2004 Scope, Los Angeles Saatchi & Saatchi, benefit auction, New York Vine Art, Bolzano, Italy 2005 Gallerie Leonardo, Bolzano, Italy inchiostro indelebile-impronte a regola d'arte, group show, Galeria de la Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina Ateliers de Artistes de Belleville, Paris, France Galerie Zero, Berlin, Germany Capodilucca, Bologna, Italy Vine Art, Bolzano, Italy Galleria d'arte Quadreria , L'arte brut di Paul Kostabi, San Donà di Piave , Venezia, Italy Contemporanea Forli, Italy Galleria Leonardo, Galerie Bolzano, (Interpretations), Bozen, Italy Piave, Venezia, Italy 2006 Galleria Leonardo Galerie Bolzano, (Kindred Spirit), Bozen , Italy Galleria Cavour, Bologna, Italy Libreria Bocca, Milano, Italy Kunst Art, Bolzano, Italy Art Verona, Italy Contemporanea, (10 Years), Forli, Italy Bergamo Arte Fiera, Italy Expo Arte, Montichiari Brescia, Italy Arte Padova, Italy Galleria d'arte Quadreria - Paul Kostabi News, San Donà di Piave, Venezia, Italy Galleria Margutta Artecontemporanea, Catania, Italy Galleria Genus, San Benedetto del Trento, Italy Galleria Pancaldi, Live, (cardboards), Roma, Italy Expo Montichiari (BS), Italy Artefiera, Bergamo, Italy Galleria Il Faro, Belvedere Marittimo, (CS), Italy Galleria Genus, San Bendetto del Trento, Italy Galleria La Sfinge, Ascoli Piceno, Italy Galleria Consorti, Roma, Italy Galleria Edarcom Europa, Roma, Italy Galleria Pancaldi, Smack Omaggio a Marilyn Monroe, Roma, Italy Galleria Pancaldi, Piccolo Volto, Roma, Italy 2007 Kunst Art, Bolzano, Italy Vicenza, Arte, Italy Hidden Hands, White Box, New York Freak out, Ferrario Arte, Trento, Italy Maggazini del Sale, Siena, Italy Convento di Santa Maria della Pietà - Ripa Teatina(Chieti), Italy 2008 Mural (Honk For Obama), 57th Street and 12th Avenue, New York Night of 1000 Drawings, Artists Space, New York Sala delle Colonne, Comune di Corbetta (Milano) 2009 Infantellina Contemporary Berlin Faces and Flowers, Outside In, Piermont, New York Art Burn, Art Basil, Miami NAC Novegro Arte Contemporanea, Milano Fondazione Mazzullo, Palazzo Duchi di S. Stefano, Taormina Contemporary Arte Pancaldi, Live In Progress, (Degeneration), Roma Saletta d'arte Vivianni, Pisa, Italy Galleria Art Plaza, Venaria, Ialy Borghese Palace Art Hotel, Firenze, Italy Compagnia dell'Arte, Bologna, Italy 2010 Art Shred, Winkleman Gallery, New York Caruso Gallery, Milazzo, Italy 102 Gallery, Rome, Italy Mark and Paul Kostabi, Giulianova, Italy Cremona Art fair, Cremona Italy SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum of Art, New York Paterson Museum, Paterson, New Jersey New England for Contemporary Art, Brooklyn, Connecticut Whitney Museum of American Art, video, Paper Tiger Sessions Nassau County Museum of Art, New York Museion - Museum of modern and contemporary art, Bolzano Italy