Con Artist

A product of post-Warhol commodity-based "business art" Mark Kostabi is one of the world's most divisive and successful living artists, selling over one thousand paintings every year, all of which were conceived of and painted by his employees. Through overt self-interest and lampooning of the art business, Kostabi catapulted to international fame via New York's explosive 1980s Post-Punk / Hip Hop-driven art scene but quickly fell from grace by the 1990's. Although a pariah in the upper-echelons of the A-list art establishment, his employee-centered studio persists and thrives today as he continues to sell paintings to mid-level collectors worldwide. In addition, Kostabi now produces and hosts a strange weekly game show called Title This wherein celebrities, art world luminaries and aging punk rockers compete for money to title "his" paintings. Constantly obsessed with money, fame and spin, Kostabi's critics claim he's either reflecting America's obsessions back on it or is simply a me