| | | | Bodys Isek KingelezEdited with text by Sarah Suzuki. Text by David Adjaye, Chika Okeke-Agulu, et al.
 Made from quotidian materials, Kingelez’s sculptures evoke visionary architecturesThe sculptures of Bodys Isek Kingelez (1948–2015) are imagined architectural propositions and improbable structures for a fairytale urban landscape. Comprised of paper, commercial packaging and the stuff of everyday life, his “extreme maquettes” transform these materials into fantastic visions that encompass civic buildings, public monuments and private pavilions. Born in the Belgian Congo, Kingelez gained international renown following his participation in the landmark 1989 exhibition Magiciens de la Terre at Centre Georges Pompidou and the Grande Halle of the Parc de la Villette, and since that time, his work has been included in numerous global surveys and in several solo presentations. Published to accompany the first retrospective of his work, this volume traces the span of Kingelez’s three decade career, from never-before-exhibited early works to sculptures that launched his career in 1989 and the complex and multifaceted cities of later decades, bringing his rarely seen, distinctive oeuvre to international audiences. Featuring stunning new photography of his work, this serves as the most comprehensive volume on the artist to date.
Sarah Suzuki is Curator of Drawings and Prints at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. David Adjaye is a British architect. His most popular book is David Adjaye: Houses; Recycling, Reconfiguring, Rebuilding. "Belle Hollandaise" (1991) is reproduced from 'Bodys Isek Kingelez.'PRAISE AND REVIEWSArchinecht Mackenzie Goldberg "Growing up in his home city of Kinshasa, which grew exponentially with urban planning and infrastructure often unable to keep up, his vibrant and ambitious structures provided utopian alternatives to his own experience of urban life in his home city." Apollo Magazine "Fantastical architectural maquettes of public monuments and civic buildings envisage a utopian metropolis" Artsy Tess Thackara This small-scale architecture is fabulous but orderly—the stuff of fantasy, but also an expression of the real world: of political ambitions, of a desire for harmony, of a vision for civic responsibility and a new postcolonial world order. talkcontract Hayley Arsenault The self-trained artist is celebrated for creating “extreme maquettes” to explore questions around urban growth, economic inequity, and the rehabilitative power of architecture. The New York Times Roberta Smith A euphoric exhibition-as-utopian-wonderland. The New Yorker Peter Schjeldahl Imaginary buildings and whole cities in a perfectly integral melange of modern, postmodern, and entirley invented styles. The Week His festive, suis generis work, is sure to make fans of just everyone who sees it. The Wall Street Journal Peter Plagens "Sparkling," "colorful," "intricate," and "inventive," are so inadequate in describing his work that one is tempted to drag out that overused compliment in contemporary arts commentary: "amazing." The Paris Review From early single-building sculptures to his futuristic late works, which incorporate increasingly unorthodox material. Quartzy Thu-Huong Ha A utopian antidote to corruption and suffering, through whimsical, technicolored, and optimistic architecture. PIN-UP A neat, visually pleasing volume. The New York Times Roberta Smith A euphoric exhibition as utopian wonderland, featuring his fantasy architectural models and cities — works strong in color, eccentric in shape, loaded with enthralling details and futuristic aura. New York Times Roberta Smith The first comprehensive survey of this Congolese artist's work is a euphoric exhibition as utopian wonderland. |
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| | FROM THE ARTBOOK BLOG CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 6/11/2018 This detail of Congolese artist Bodys Isek Kingelez's mind-blowing four-foot by six-foot by ten-and-a-half-foot fantasy architectural model / sculpture / collage, "Kimbembele Ihunga" (1994), is reproduced from the undisputed staff favorite book from our Spring 2018 list, published to accompany the first comprehensive Kingelez retrospective in the United States, on view now through January 1, 2019, at MoMA. "I created these cities so there would be lasting peace, justice and universal freedom," the artist is quoted by essayist Chika Okeke-Agulu. "They will function like small secular states with their own political structure, and will not need policemen or an army." If only the real world could be more like Kingelez's. continue to blogFROM THE ARTBOOK BLOG CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 6/12/2018 Whomever you are, whatever you do, if you want to be transported, spend some time with the work of Bodys Isek Kingelez (1948–2015). "Kingelez anchored his work in the present and the recent past and in the fabric of the city around him, inspired equally by colonial architecture, the ambitious buildings of post-Independence Zaire, and the idioms that typify national building styles," MoMA curator Sarah Suzuki writes. "But his work was always future facing. In an era in which cities, including Kinshasa, were (and continue to be) under pressure to accommodate unprecedented rates of growth and the attendant challenges to civic life, Kingelez pointed a way forward offering models of beauty, harmony and functionality His work addressed the great challenges of the twentieth century—decolonization, health crises, the quest for nationhood and national identity—but it is infused with potential, both philosophical and formal. In his hands, new, cooperative ways of living and working were possible and the most mundane of materials could become technically precise, inventive and elegant objects. He declared himself 'a designer, an architect, a sculptor, engineer, artist.' His dazzling sculptures, manifestations of a future that perhaps only he could see, suggest one additional role: 'a visionary,' he said,' is someone who dreams of what doesn't yet exist.'" Featured work is "Kinshasa la Belle" (1991). continue to blog | |  | THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, NEW YORKISBN: 9781633450547
USD $35.00 | CAN $47.5Pub Date: 5/22/2018
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