Monika Sosnowska

Monika Sosnowska is a polish sculptor who experiments with the visual language of architecture, rendering recognisable objects obsolete through processes of transformation. Chairs might be elongated and tangled together; a handrail could be stretched to its limit, reformed like a loop-de-loop rollercoaster— or blocks of concrete might encase fragments of built structures, such as handles, bolts, pipes, or latticed steel. Although formally striking, the artist’s sculptures don’t rely on absurdist juxtapositions in the style of Dadaism or Surrealism, the process is instead guided by the socio-political resonance of the chosen materials. In particular, Sosnowska's use of substances such as rebar, steel and concrete pays homage to the artisans that helped to rebuild Poland’s cities during the post-soviet era with these materials. The maiming of these sculptures speaks to the late-capitalist tendency to tear down these historic buildings. Meditating on the immense power of architecture in both a social and political sense, Sosnowska’s contorted structures have a quiet power to them, functioning dually as odes to Constructivism and warning signs for architecture’s brutal capacity. ...

Founded in 1926 by Christian Zervos at 14, rue du Dragon in the heart of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Cahiers d’Art encompasses a publishing house, a gallery, and a revue. The Cahiers d’Art Revue was entirely unique when it was introduced, and it still is: a revue of contemporary art defined by its combination of striking typography and layout, abundant photography, and juxtaposition of ancient and modern art. Between the 1920s and the mid-1970s, Cahiers d’Art published ninety-seven issues of the Revue and more than fifty books on fine art and architecture, as well as the thirty-three volume catalogue raisonné of Pablo Picasso. After its acquisition and relaunch in 2012 by Staffan Ahrenberg, an editorial board comprised of Sam Keller, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Isabela Mora, and Staffan Ahrenberg was created. Cahiers d’Art has since published several new Revues and art books devoted to Ellsworth Kelly, Rosemarie Trockel, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Alexander Calder, Pablo Picasso, Thomas Schütte, Gabriel Orozco, Joan Miró, Lucas Arruda, Ai Weiwei, Arthur Jafa, Frank Gehry, Christo, and others. From the 1920s till today, Cahiers d’Art has maintained a gallery, exhibiting the artists it publishes. Cahiers d’Art continues to fulfill its mission to be the cultural bridge between the avant-garde of Picasso, Duchamp, and Le Corbusier, and the leading artists and architects of our time. ...