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Steven Gontarski Biography
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Steven Gontarski, born in Philadelphia in 1972, studied at Brown University, Rhode Island before making the journey to London to attend Goldsmiths College, where he graduated in 1997.
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Gontarski received critical acclaim for the sculptures that he presented in 1998 at the Institute of Contemporary Arts as part of the exhibition ‘Die Young, Stay Pretty’. The sculptures were life-size, part transparent, part shiny, silver-skinned mutated figures, made from PVC stitched together by hand and filled with synthetic wadding and hair. They presented featureless, partial bodies, headless torsos, truncated and extruding limbs that seemed to meld together and part in various convoluted sexual positions.
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Gontarski held his first solo exhibition at White Cube in early 2000 and presented works that were initially sculpted in plaster, then cast in fibreglass and sprayed with high gloss paint. The subjects for the works were skateboarders and snowboarders and in each one, Gontarski froze and made a composite out of various body movements and positions, resulting in sculptures that appeared to fluidly transform and mutate when moved around. Fetishistic and futuristic, the works with their nubile aestheticism refer to contemporary culture, yet, at the same time, fuse the organic grace of Henry Moore with the shiny hard surfaces, speed and reduced forms of Constantin Brancusi.
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Since 2000, Gontarski has made a series of fibreglass sculptures – busts and full-length male figures – which employ a hyper-real, eroticised sculptural language where the scale is only slightly altered from reality. These ‘prophets’ despite being familiar, are unexpected in their slight elongation, their masked or blind faces suggesting both melancholic preoccupations as well as a sublimated sexuality that is emphasised by their extreme gloss surface. Sometimes the figures seem eaten away, with voids in the body that point to a kind of inner consumption; a body eaten away by its own consuming desire.
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Gontarski has had numerous exhibitions internationally. Recent solo shows include Le Consortium, Dijon (2003) and Kukje Gallery, Seoul (2004).
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| Selected Exhibitions |
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2006
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Steven Gontarski, Changing Role, Naples (solo)
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2006
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The Day of St George, White Cubicle/George & Dragon, London (solo)
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2006
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Steven Gontarski, pkm gallery, Seoul (solo)
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2006
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Material World, Collection Arts Council, England
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2005
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Pour de Vrai, Musee de Beaux Arts, Nancy
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2005
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The Future Lasts a long Time, organized by Le Consortium, Dijon
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2005
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Post Notes, ICA, London / Midway Contemporary Art, Minnesota
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2005
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The Visitors, Groninger Museum, The Netherlands (solo)
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2004
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December Morning Prophecy, Inside the White Cube, White Cube, London (solo)
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2004
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Steven Gontarski, Kukje Gallery, Seoul (solo)
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2004
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Steven Gontarski, Gandy Gallery, Prague (solo)
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2004
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Kingdom, Market Gallery, Glasgow
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2004
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Nocturnal Emissions, Groninger Museum, Groningen
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2004
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The Future Lasts A Long Time, TalEsther Gallery, Tel Aviv
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2003
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Roll Out, Karyn Lovegrove Gallery, Los Angeles
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2003
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Game Over, Grimm/Rosenfeld, Munich
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2003
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Prophet, Karyn Lovegrove Gallery, Los Angeles (solo)
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2003
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Steven Gontarski, Le Consortium, Dijon (solo)
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2002
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Epsilon Delta, Art at Habitat, Habitat Kensington, London (solo)
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2002
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Electric Dreams, Barbican Art Gallery, London
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2002
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Transformer II, Air de Paris, Paris
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2002
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Jam: Tokyo-London, Tokyo City Opera Gallery, Tokyo
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2001
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Freestyle. Werke Aus der Sammlung Boros, Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany
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2001
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We Set Off in High Spirits, Matthew Marks Gallery, New York, USA
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2001
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Mind the Gap, Wetterling Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden
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2001
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Jam: Tokyo-London, Barbican Gallery, London, UK
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2001
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Sun Valley (with Chantal Joffe), One in the other, London (solo)
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2001
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Friends of Mine, Gallery Muu, Helsinki
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2000
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Hard Candy, 42 Westbourne Gardens, London
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2000
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A very nice film club, Vilma Gold Gallery, London
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2000
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Drawings, Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel-Aviv, Israel
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2000
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Conversation, Milton Keynes Gallery, Milton Keynes
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2000
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Hard Candy Berlin, Galerie Wieland, Berlin, Germany
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2000
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Heart + Soul, Sandroni Rey, Venice, California, USA
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2000
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Drawing Exhibition, Taché Levy Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
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2000
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Hard Candy, 42 Westbourne Gardens, London, UK
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2000
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Steven Gontarski. The Unbalance of Boredom, Taché-Levy Gallery, Brussels, Belgium (solo)
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2000
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Solo Exhibition, White Cube, London, UK (solo)
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1999
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Din, 4 x 4 Gallery, Amsterdam
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1999
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Heart and Soul, 60 Long Lane, London
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1999
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Nurse, Johnen & Schottle Gallery, Cologne
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1999
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Neurotic Realism Part I, Saatchi Gallery, London
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1998
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Die Young Stay Pretty, Institute of Contemporary Art, London
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1998
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Cloth Bound, Laure Genillard Gallery, London
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1997
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Humdrum, The Trade Apartment, London
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1996
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Sweat, Exit Art/The First World, New York
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1995
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Imaginary Beings, Exit Art/The First World, New York
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1995
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Looking Out, Putting Out, 450 Broadway Gallery, New York
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1994
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American Beauty, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA
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