ThoughtGallery.org > Konstantin Bokov: Another Man’s Treasure for All to Behold

Konstantin Bokov: Another Man’s Treasure for All to Behold

(New York, NY—January 27th, 2020) On the occasion of his 80th birthday, Van Der Plas Gallery presents a solo exhibition of work by Konstantin Bokov on view from January 27th through February 16th, 2020. It features Bokov’s signature found-art assemblage, sculptures, paintings, and sketches over four prolific decades.

 Konstantin Bokov was born in Shostak, Ukraine, as a legacy to acclaimed Russian and Soviet poet and songwriter, Victor Bokov. Although Konstantin was groomed to pursue music at the Art Academy of Leningrad in St. Petersburg, a visceral encounter with Vincent van Gogh’s sunsets changed the trajectory of his life. From Moscow, Bokov immigrated to New York City in 1974. As “Mr. Graffiti,” Bokov joined the ranks as part of the Lower East Side Rivington School, East Village and SoHo art scene. Reflecting the resourcefulness of its times, these artists innovated vernacular vocabularies, materials, techniques, and sensibilities of city life that persist on the global street-art landscape to this day.

 Gallerist and curator Adriaan van der Plas shares, “Bokov embodies the true spirit of an outsider with no phone or email to reach him. With a pure heart, he regards creativity as spiritual, and offers it with unbridled generosity.” Since their initial meeting in 1993, Bokov has housed an extensive collection of his artworks, a volume in the hundreds, at Van Der Plas Gallery. Due to this special connection, Van Der Plas has likewise become one of the foremost experts on Bokov’s impact on New York’s creative and cultural history. For example, Bokov was a longtime resident of Washington Heights. As recounted in a New York Times feature (“The Art of the Stump” by Tim Murphy, 2007), Bokov amused and delighted his neighbors with sculptures made of discarded materials atop tree stumps as pedestals. Reminiscent of Eastern Christian Orthodox symbolism, Bokov constructs mosaics out of detritus and thus carves out sacred spaces and moments out of common city milieu.

 Drawing from his background as both fisherman and musician, Bokov is gifted with intuition and vision to see and to hear what others may not. Or, as Bokov describes a discarded container top that he transforms into an outsized beetle in the documentary “Free” (Dir. Mark Lechner, 2012), “I mean it was thrown out, nobody in the world needed it. And look at that. Now everyone would be happy to have it–yes, have it back.” The current exhibition features this very piece as the centrifugal force amongst a constellation of artworks that evoke Americana folk optimism with urban grit and wit. Like a disciplined scholar, Bokov studies the beauty of everyday life. He documents pedestrian city scenes with people as his main subjects–reading at the café, sleeping on a subway car, or dancing in the park. But they are not strangers. Indeed, they are folk who belong to the same sun, moon, sea, and stars as Bokov’s wild imagination. 

 The opening reception will be on Wednesday, February 5th, 2020 from 6-8 PM. Exhibition dates include January 27th to February 16th, 2020 at Van Der Plas Gallery, 156 Orchard Street, New York, NY 10002. Hours and information: 12 to 6 PM from Wednesday to Sunday or by appointment on Monday and Tuesday. Phone 212-227-8983. For more information, visit vanderplasgallery.com.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Born in 1940 in Shostka, Ukraine, Konstantin Bokov immigrated to New York City in 1974. Bokov shares his whimsical style and endless imagination with New Yorkers in DIY public installations, which have earned him a devoted following in neighborhoods around New York City. Konstantin Bokov has appeared alongside Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring at the Now Gallery, Emerging Collectors Gallery, Morin Miller Gallery, the Grant Gallery, and the Monique Goldstrum Gallery. He showed at the 2008 European Outsider Art Fair in Vienna and the Outsider Art Fair in New York. Bokov is also the subject of an award-winning independent documentary entitled, “Free” (Dir. Mark Lechner, 2012) which has been screened and honored at numerous festivals around the globe.

ABOUT VAN DER PLAS GALLERY 

Van Der Plas has been a premier contemporary art gallery in New York City for over twenty-five years, known for showing works primarily by outsider and emerging artists as well as academically trained artists from New York City and throughout the world. Founder Adriaan van der Plas left his hometown of Vienna, Austria, and in 1980, after extensive traveling throughout the Americas, settled in New York City. He strives to find art originating from the innermost creative spirit.

For more information, contact Adriaan Van Der Plas, a[email protected]











When: Mon., Feb. 17, 2020 - Sun., Mar. 1, 2020 at 12:00 pm - 6:00 pm

(New York, NY—January 27th, 2020) On the occasion of his 80th birthday, Van Der Plas Gallery presents a solo exhibition of work by Konstantin Bokov on view from January 27th through February 16th, 2020. It features Bokov’s signature found-art assemblage, sculptures, paintings, and sketches over four prolific decades.

 Konstantin Bokov was born in Shostak, Ukraine, as a legacy to acclaimed Russian and Soviet poet and songwriter, Victor Bokov. Although Konstantin was groomed to pursue music at the Art Academy of Leningrad in St. Petersburg, a visceral encounter with Vincent van Gogh’s sunsets changed the trajectory of his life. From Moscow, Bokov immigrated to New York City in 1974. As “Mr. Graffiti,” Bokov joined the ranks as part of the Lower East Side Rivington School, East Village and SoHo art scene. Reflecting the resourcefulness of its times, these artists innovated vernacular vocabularies, materials, techniques, and sensibilities of city life that persist on the global street-art landscape to this day.

 Gallerist and curator Adriaan van der Plas shares, “Bokov embodies the true spirit of an outsider with no phone or email to reach him. With a pure heart, he regards creativity as spiritual, and offers it with unbridled generosity.” Since their initial meeting in 1993, Bokov has housed an extensive collection of his artworks, a volume in the hundreds, at Van Der Plas Gallery. Due to this special connection, Van Der Plas has likewise become one of the foremost experts on Bokov’s impact on New York’s creative and cultural history. For example, Bokov was a longtime resident of Washington Heights. As recounted in a New York Times feature (“The Art of the Stump” by Tim Murphy, 2007), Bokov amused and delighted his neighbors with sculptures made of discarded materials atop tree stumps as pedestals. Reminiscent of Eastern Christian Orthodox symbolism, Bokov constructs mosaics out of detritus and thus carves out sacred spaces and moments out of common city milieu.

 Drawing from his background as both fisherman and musician, Bokov is gifted with intuition and vision to see and to hear what others may not. Or, as Bokov describes a discarded container top that he transforms into an outsized beetle in the documentary “Free” (Dir. Mark Lechner, 2012), “I mean it was thrown out, nobody in the world needed it. And look at that. Now everyone would be happy to have it–yes, have it back.” The current exhibition features this very piece as the centrifugal force amongst a constellation of artworks that evoke Americana folk optimism with urban grit and wit. Like a disciplined scholar, Bokov studies the beauty of everyday life. He documents pedestrian city scenes with people as his main subjects–reading at the café, sleeping on a subway car, or dancing in the park. But they are not strangers. Indeed, they are folk who belong to the same sun, moon, sea, and stars as Bokov’s wild imagination. 

 The opening reception will be on Wednesday, February 5th, 2020 from 6-8 PM. Exhibition dates include January 27th to February 16th, 2020 at Van Der Plas Gallery, 156 Orchard Street, New York, NY 10002. Hours and information: 12 to 6 PM from Wednesday to Sunday or by appointment on Monday and Tuesday. Phone 212-227-8983. For more information, visit vanderplasgallery.com.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Born in 1940 in Shostka, Ukraine, Konstantin Bokov immigrated to New York City in 1974. Bokov shares his whimsical style and endless imagination with New Yorkers in DIY public installations, which have earned him a devoted following in neighborhoods around New York City. Konstantin Bokov has appeared alongside Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring at the Now Gallery, Emerging Collectors Gallery, Morin Miller Gallery, the Grant Gallery, and the Monique Goldstrum Gallery. He showed at the 2008 European Outsider Art Fair in Vienna and the Outsider Art Fair in New York. Bokov is also the subject of an award-winning independent documentary entitled, “Free” (Dir. Mark Lechner, 2012) which has been screened and honored at numerous festivals around the globe.

ABOUT VAN DER PLAS GALLERY 

Van Der Plas has been a premier contemporary art gallery in New York City for over twenty-five years, known for showing works primarily by outsider and emerging artists as well as academically trained artists from New York City and throughout the world. Founder Adriaan van der Plas left his hometown of Vienna, Austria, and in 1980, after extensive traveling throughout the Americas, settled in New York City. He strives to find art originating from the innermost creative spirit.

For more information, contact Adriaan Van Der Plas, a[email protected]

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