Flaws are Opportunities

Mark Kostabi, artist

born 1960

Flaws are Opportunities, 1983

Where object was made: New York, United States

Material/technique: charcoal; possibly pastel; graphite; possibly crayon; paper; ink

Dimensions:
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 28 x 21.6 cm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 11 x 8 1/2 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 19 x 14 in

Credit line: The Helen Foresman Spencer Museum of Art, The University of Kansas, The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States, a joint initiative of the Trustees of the Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection and the National Gallery of Art, with generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts and the Institute of Museum and Library Services

Accession number: 2009.0056

Not on display

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Images

Label texts

Big Botany: Conversations with the Plant World

Painter and composer Mark Kostabi often says that flaws are opportunities, a sentiment that inspires the title and subject matter of this drawing. Although lacking a head, the figure holds a pot from which a plant grows to fill the emptied space above its neck and shoulders. The plant, which possesses an almost unlimited potential for growth and change, may be seen as both filling a void and allowing the figure to reach heights and achievements not possible with an ordinary human head. The pot itself resembles the body that holds it and seems as though it would fit perfectly in the hollow neck of the figure. Kostabi draws from the common conception of plants as symbols of hope and potential; for instance, the bud that blossoms into a beautiful flower or the
seed that transforms over time into a towering tree. The headless figure in this artwork embraces possibility and opportunity in the face of adversity.

Exhibition Label:
"NetWorks: Art and Artists from the Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection," Mar-2011, Susan Earle, Stephen Goddard, and SMA Interns
Mark Kostabi was an active participant in the East Village art scene during the mid- 1980s, and his drawings and paintings share an affinity with the graffiti-inspired works of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. Unlike his peers, Kostabi also worked on cultivating his public persona by publishing self-interviews that offered commentary on the commodification of art. Kostabi’s interest in confronting the issues that plagued contemporary society, such as alienation, materialism, artistic ambition, and the pressure to produce for the sake of production, informed his choice of subject matter and subsequent artistic practice. In 1988 the artist opened “Kostabi’s World,” a large studio in SoHo that employed painting assistants and “idea people.”
Tipping his hat to Duchamp, Kostabi “made”
his art through the act of signing the paintings conceived of and executed by others. The early figural drawings on view predate the more “conceptual” work later produced by Kostabi’s studio.