On the Edge, 1988
Mark Kostabi, whose haunting paintings feature Surrealism-inspired set pieces and angles, rose to prominence amid the Neo-Expressionist boom of 1980s New York. The artist’s signature faceless figures—adrift in starkly lined, color-saturated worlds—attracted attention from collectors, the press, and fellow East Village art-world acolytes. Kostabi began exhibiting throughout the city and internationally, and his work has sold for five figure prices at auction. His paintings, along with his irreverent media appearances and opulent, three-floor mega-studio (dubbed “Kostabi World”), all commented on the absurd commercialism and commodification of art in the decades leading up to the new millennium.
American, b. 1960