LONDON.- Pi Artworks announced the representation of Antonio Cosentino (b. 1970, Istanbul), who lives and works in Istanbul. Working across painting, sculpture, installation, photography, video and writing, Cosentino has developed a distinctive practice rooted in the changing fabric of the city and in the relationship between memory, everyday life and imagination.
A founding member of Hafriyat Collective, established in 1996, Cosentino emerged from a generation of artists who turned their attention to the street, popular culture and the contradictions of a rapidly transforming Istanbul. The city has remained central to his work ever since. Long walks, photographs, buildings, vehicles, signs, discarded objects and chance encounters accumulate across his practice, forming what has been described as a visual diary of urban life. Reality and fiction sit easily alongside one another; nostalgia, humour and melancholy are equally present.
Cosentino is also a storyteller in the literal sense. Writing has long accompanied his exhibitions, alongside artist's books and publications, extending the world of his paintings and objects into language. His stories share the same attentive gaze as his visual work: the ordinary details of the city—a street, a car, the sea, a neighbourhood, an unexpected encounter—can become the beginning of another reality. As Cosentino writes, unpredictability and uncertainty are fundamental to his way of working: “The radiant work creates its own story and its own reality.”
Pi Artworks will present new work by Antonio Cosentino in forthcoming exhibitions and projects
Antonio Cosentino graduated from the Department of Painting, Faculty of Fine Arts at Mimar Sinan University in 1994. He founded the art initiative Hafriyat with Hakan Grsoytrak and Mustafa Pancar in 1996. His recent exhibitions include Summer was a Beautiful Day (Zilberman Gallery, Berlin, Germany, 2018), School Square Galatasaray (curator: elenk Bafra, Pera Museum, Istanbul, Turkey, 2018), HOME IS WHERE THE (HE)ART IS (Galerie Paris-Beijing, Paris, France, 2018), HARBOR (Istanbul Modern, Istanbul, Turkey, 2017); boxes of cigarettes and whisky all over the sea, ferre, my love (Zilberman Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey, 2016); Istanbul, Passion, Joy, Fury (curators: Hou Hanru, Ceren Erdem, Elena Motisi and Donatella Saroli, MAXXI National 21st Century Arts Museum, Rome, Italy, 2015); Mom I'm Going Out to Pour Some Concrete (with Extrastruggle, Studio-X, Istanbul, Turkey, 2015); Escape from Marmara Sea: The Stelyanos Hrisopulos (Salt Ulus, Ankara, Turkey, 2015); Departure Marmara Sea (Bergsen & Bergsen, Istanbul, Turkey, 2013) and Tin City (Klah, Istanbul, Turkey, 2013). Having participated in numerous exhibitions both in Turkey and abroad, Cosentino contributed works to Spare Time, Great Work (Platform 3, Munich, Germany, 2011), and Tactics of Invisibility (Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna, Austria; Tanas, Berlin, Germany; ARTER, Istanbul, Turkey 2010-2011) with the collective Hafriyat. The artist lives and works in Istanbul.
