Tamara Kostianovsky

Tamara Kostianovsky was born in Jerusalem, Israel, in 1974 and grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her installations and sculptures confront the viewers with the real and grotesque nature of violence, offering a context to reflect on the vulnerability of our physical existence. Her work questions unchecked brutality while investigating the relationships between poverty, consumption, and desire, hoping to create a model of the architecture of violence.

She literally cannibalizes her wardrobe into art—using the various fabrics and textures to conjure flesh, bone, gristle, and slabs of fat in life-size sculptures of livestock carcasses. The material connects our bodies with the ones in the work, bringing violent acts into a familiar realm.

Kostianovsky earned her undergraduate degree from the National School of Fine Arts “Prilidiano Pueyrredon” in Buenos Aires, Argentina (1998) and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia (2003).

In addition to her Guggenheim Fellowship, Kostianovsky has been awarded numerous grants and fellowships. Selected awards include the New York Foundation for the Arts (2009), Socrates Sculpture Park (2009), the Pollock-Krasner Foundation (2008), and The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (2005).

Solo exhibitions include Black and White Gallery and VOLTA, both in New York City; The Philadelphia Museum of Jewish Art; and Centro Cultural J. L. Borges, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Amongst other venues, her work has been presented in group exhibitions at The Jewish Museum,  El Museo del Barrio,Exit Art, and Socrates Sculpture Park, all in New York City; Scion Installation in Los Angeles; The University of the Arts, Philadelphia; and Pierre Menard Gallery, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Kostianovsky currently lives and works in New York and is a faculty member at the School of Visual Arts.