Monica Bonvicini
Monica Bonvicini, born 1965 in Venice, Italy, lives and works in Berlin. She has been teaching sculpture at the Berlin University of the Arts since 2017. In her works, Monica Bonvicini uses various media such as sculpture, installation, video and photography to explore the interactions between architecture, gender roles, control and power. She actively integrates the exhibition space and the viewer into her reflections. Bonvicini has exhibited in renowned museums and biennials worldwide and has been awarded major art prizes. Sculptures by the artist are permanently installed in London, Oslo and Istanbul.
Monica Bonvicini Editions
Unique Works
All the Pretty in the Sky
2024
From FACES
Diptych of two digital pigment prints on Hahnemühle 300g rag paper, each 60 x 50 cm. Edition of 45 + 8 AP, signed and numbered on label verso of the second work.
The edition All the Pretty in the Sky is a diptych featuring a fusion of elements drawn from some of Monica Bonvicini's iconic artworks. Embedded within this composition is the unmistakable outline of a cowboy bust, instantly recognizable as the “Marlboro Man”. Against a backdrop of blue skies, vivid hues of red emerge, echoing the vibrant tones of the desert landscape. The two prints of this edition mirror each other in an interplay of reflection and repetition.
Diptych EUR 3,000
Minimal Romantik
2005
Published for the 51st Venice Biennale
Digital pigment print on semi-transparent foil, 68.2 x 75 cm (26¾ x 29½ in). Edition of 40, signed and numbered.
In her work, Monica Bonvicini approaches the fundamental question of access to architectural matter; she questions architectural resistance to the human being. She works with and in architecture – a realm that she sees as being "basic" – to bring architecture into the non-basic realm of artist. Her works are designed to instill viewers with a sense of an extreme experience, be it fear, pleasure, or even pain.
About this edition, which was published for the Venice Biennale, Monica Bonvicini said: "Minimal Romantik references works by Sol LeWitt and Caspar David Friedrich. The sculpture will be made by construction workers during the opening days of the Biennale. The intention is to destroy the cube from the top downwards, turning it into a three-dimensional Eismeer (Sea of Ice) landscape."
EUR 1,000
Home is Where You Leave Your Belt
2019
Created on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the furniture company Thonet
Sideboard Thonet B 108, bronze, 90 × 134 × 39 cm (35½ x 53 x 15½ in). Edition of 4 + 1 A.P., signed and numbered.
Beloved pieces of furniture experience everyday life up close and often become an extension of one‘s own person. In this work, Monica Bonvicini takes up this idea and reflects on the appropriation of objects in a domestic environment. In an ironic way, the men’s belt on the table leg refers to its owner, who in the truest sense of the word has lowered his pants. From a distance, however, what at first seems like a forgotten or discarded leather belt turns out to be a permanently installed bronze sculpture. The play with realities, the effect of objects in their surroundings, as well as the preoccupation with domesticity and male dominance are well-known themes in Bonvicini’s work.
