Mark Kostabi: Hitting the Big Time, from Gritty East Village Artist to MoMA

The Mount Rushmore of Art by Eduardo Kobra hovers over the Empire Diner in Chelsea, depicting four great artists of their generation: Frida Kahlo, Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Conspicuously absent, however, is one of their very successful cohort, Mark Kostabi.

While the latter might not share the immediate name recognition of the aforementioned artists among the general public, he is certainly noted in the art world, and has made a mischievous and laudable reputation for himself both in the art, music and social scene.

Kostabi was born in Los Angeles in the fall of 1960. He grew up in Whittier, Calif., a tree-laden suburb 30 miles east of the metropolis. Like most children, he began line drawings around age 6, simply on paper, which informs “the original inspiration for my style of painting.” He estimates he graduated to paint on canvas around age 12, and although he couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment, remembers selling artwork as a student in elementary school. He continued to do so throughout high school and college, beginning at Fullerton Community College before enrolling at California State University as an art major. But his talent effloresced without further instruction, and before achieving his degree, “eagerly” moved to New York to begin his career.

Although he was defined as an “East Village artist,” Kostabi never actually lived there. He said he “hung out there on a daily basis from 1983 to 1985, the peak years of the East Village art scene,” when it was the epicenter of creative grit. He has called myriad neighborhoods throughout the borough home, even three addresses in Chelsea, the most recent of which is a magnificent four-story townhouse on West 22nd Street. One thing that drew him to the property was a robust, century-old fig tree growing in its coveted backyard, transplanted from Italy by the landowner’s Sicilian grandmother in 1911. He has always been drawn to figs, “not only for their wonderful flavor, but because of the fig leaf, which is such an important icon within art history.”

But his Italo-philia does not end with figs; he fell in love with Rome at an outdoor café near Piazza Navona, recognizing the “eternal beauty throughout Rome, the complex mystery and sense of endless amazement” he had never seen elsewhere. Consequently, he purchased a villa in Rome in the spring of 2023, in addition to an apartment in Piazza Vittorio, which he bought in 2000. That space is now being used to archive his private collection of both his work and others’. He is continually inspired by the history of the ancient city and this sense of awe, implementing classic Italian techniques such as chiaroscuro and sfumato into modernist compilations that are unmistakably recognizable in his unique style

His work has been categorized as “Neo-surrealism” and “Pop Surrealism,” but he describes it as a combination of academic realist painting and the depiction of psychosocial narratives; commentary on the world in which we live in gorgeous, hypersaturated scenes contrasting simple, anonymous silhouettes in very recognizable situations. More recent works have showcased a slight alteration in style by collaborating with his brother, Paul Kostabi, whose edgier, graffiti-esque style is a funky contrast to his classic lines. He currently employs about 10 carefully vetted artists to execute his work, a “standard practice for successful artists,” according to Kostabi, who produces in volume.

Outsourcing some of his work also frees up his schedule to pursue another of his artistic passions: music. He is an extremely talented pianist; he began playing around age 12, in 1972. His mother was a professional piano teacher, and his father a multi-instrumentalist who fabricated brass instruments for a living. Surrounded by such musical virtuosity, he needed no formal training. “Despite a few courses in college, I’ve been self-taught,” he confides, but you wouldn’t know it passing by his Chelsea home on occasion, the transporting lilt of his mastery wafting down from his second-floor studio, which houses his concert grand Steinway. It’s his favorite performance venue, which he dubs Kostabi World Chelsea, and hosts dynamic concert salons with world-famous artists playing alongside him, as well as their own works. Some nights, sometimes well into the wee hours, you can hear the revelry trickling down to the sidewalk below.

Of course, all the painting, composing, hosting, and travel don’t leave a lot of time for frivolity, but when Kostabi gets a moment, his favorite museums are the heavy hitters: the Met, MoMA, and the Guggenheim. His culinary dabbling stays pretty local: As favorites he cites Le Zie, Spicy Moon, Tziki, and Elmo, as well as Emilio’s Ballato, Cafe Fiorello, and Trattoria dell’Arte, the latter two displaying a wide range of Kostabi’s work.

His work is also part of the permanent collection of those three aforementioned museums, but he has yet to have a major solo show at any of them. So that remains a bucket-list ambition, along with a dream “to write at least one international [music] standard—something that the accordion players of Rome, who serenade outdoor diners, include in their rotation, along with “Volare” and the theme from The Godfather.” A lofty goal, perhaps, but not one that seems out of reach. Until then, he has a show at the prestigious Park West Gallery in SoHo, which opened April 17, with prices for pieces ranging from $4,500 up to six figures. Greg Young at Park West affirms the show will remain on display at least until the end of May.