"TROPICAL ABATTOIR" - Rue des Quatre Fils, Paris

RX & SLAG is delighted to present Tropical Abattoir, a solo exhibition featuring a new body of work by Tamara Kostianovsky. This is Kostianovsky's second solo show at RX & SLAG, Paris.

Tropical Abattoir explores themes that are close to the artist's heart, such as violence, colonization, overconsumption, and the environment. Alongside animal carcasses, Kostianovsky introduces a new series of three large-scale wall mounted works known as "carnal geographies."

Kostianovsky's oeuvre wows us with its paradoxical fusion of beauty and cruelty, subtlety and brutality, classicism and baroque elements. Kostianovsky views her works as representing metamorphosis, envisioning them as a utopian environment where the carcass transitions from a site of slaughter to a matrix where life takes root. 

Overall, Tamara Kostianovsky's artworks exude a transcendent energy that goes beyond mere creativity; they posses a cathartic dimension igniting a spirit of renewal. From the ashes of personal and historical traumas, Kostianovsky forges an alchemical power breathing new life into past experiences and shedding light on the resilience of the human spirit.

About the artist, Tamara Kostianovsky

Tamara Kostianovsky received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the National School of Fine in Buenos Aires and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA.  Kostianovsky is the recipient of distinguished awards including John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (2010), the New York Foundation for the Arts (2009), the Pollock-Krasner Foundation (2012, 2008), and Yaddo (2021). 

Kostianovsky's work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions at UMOCA, UT (2023); Kunsthalle Trier, DE (2023); Newport Art Museum, RI (2022-2023); Ogden Contemporary Arts, UT (2023); Denver Botanic Gardens, CO (2023); Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, NY (2021); Les Franciscaines Art Center, FR (2021); Fuller Craft Museum, Boston (2021); Musée du Textile et de la Mode, Cholet, FR(2021); Children's Museum of Manhattan, NY (2020); El Museo del Barrio, NY (2007 and 2019); The Jewish Museum, NY (2009); Slag Gallery, NY (2011 and 2021); RX Gallery, Paris (2021); UICA, MI (2015), and many others.  

Upcoming solo exhibitions 2024:

Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, Paris (2024)

The Baker Art Museum, FL (2023)

Fuller Craft Museum, MA (2024)

Among many others, Kostianovsky’s artwork has been featured and reviewed in prestigious publications such as The New York Times, The Boston Globe, WBUR, The Village Voice, Marie Claire, Repubblica, El Diario New York, Colossal, and Hyperallergic.  

Tamara Kostianovsky lives and works in NY and is represented by SLAG & RX.