Kiki Kogelnik

Kiki Kogelnik (Graz, 1935 – Vienna, 1997) was an Austrian-American artist and one of the most important figures of European pop art. She moved to New York in 1961 and became part of the circle of artists such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Claes Oldenburg. In many early representations of pop art, she was often overlooked due to gender and geographical reasons. Her work is visually close to American pop art, but with a very critical and feminist approach, especially towards technology, the objectification of the female body and consumerism.

Playful, colourful and at the same time explicitly political, Kiki Kogelnik’s works reveal the dual nature of pop art. Her characters connect the European tradition of fine arts and the ideal of beauty, but at the same time are exposed to distorted images created by the media.

From the 1970s, the artist was more intensely involved in the depiction of women in advertising, and treated feminist themes with a dose of irony and humour. Her elegantly dressed figures, characterised by artificial and exaggerated postures and stylised, mannish physiognomies, rely on the visual patterns of fashion magazines. She expressed her criticism both in painting and in works made of various materials, including ceramics, glass and bronze.

“With colour, it was important to me to create dissonance, something aggressive and artificial,” Kogelnik emphasised. She developed an exceptionally rich and diverse oeuvre in which she has dealt with current topics such as the body, technology, consumption and gender roles. “… she is without a doubt the girl of the future,” wrote the professional fashion magazine WWD – Women’s Wear Daily in 1966.