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Paul Kos

Paul Kos has been an artist and teacher for 35 years. He responds to simple, humble materials and the indigenous elements of specific sites, which he mines for their physical properties and metaphoric possibilities. Everything Matters, a traveling retrospective of his work, was organized by the University of California Berkeley Art Museum in 2003. Kos's installations and videos have also been shown at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; New Langton Arts, San Francisco; Capp Street Project, San Francisco; Leo Castelli Gallery, New York; M.H. de Young Museum, San Francisco; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco. 

The Spanish "aqui, aca, alli, alla", meaning "right here, here, there, over there," describes his work. Here, there, everywhere. Rather than having a signature or trademark, his work is linked conceptually. The concepts are often generated by life style events. For example, in jest, the author of a survival book on fire making said, as a last resort, if no matches, use a magnifying lens, if no lens, make one out of ice. So, Paul Kos did!

When Super Bowl Sunday's halftime commercials started influencing his video students with their 1,000 edits a minute pace, Kos stacked 27 video monitors, 9 high and 3 wide, to comprise a contemplative, architectural, 27 channel, stained glass window, CHARTRES BLEU, with no edits and time slowed down.

Kos opts for, but never expects, partly cloudy becoming mostly sunny.


Available Titles by Paul Kos

Title Year Runtime Collection
2x2 1997 00:04:43 Single Titles
Basho 2007 00:04:12 Single Titles
Brieftauben 1987 00:03:02 Single Titles
Can't Get It Right No Matter Where I Go: A Duet in Light and Dark 2005 00:05:25 Single Titles
Coal Train in 2/4 Time 1996 00:04:47 Single Titles
The Electric Mirror: Reflecting on Video Art in the 1970s 2017 Compilations, Curated Compilations
Flørli I 2007 00:03:19 Single Titles
Flørli IV 2007 00:02:19 Single Titles
Gargoyle V 1985 00:01:10 Single Titles
Gargoyle VIII 1985 00:02:45 Single Titles
Hand Trap 1970 00:00:22 Single Titles
Ice Makes Fire 1974 00:02:53 Single Titles
International Bed and Breakfast 1992 00:02:00 Single Titles
La Vache! 1996 00:02:41 Single Titles
Lightning 1976 00:01:23 Early Video Art, Single Titles
Pilot Butte/Pilot Light 1974 00:06:37 Single Titles
Pit and the Pendulum 1971 00:12:22 Single Titles
Ramp 1980 00:02:07 Single Titles
Reflection 1998 00:11:11 Single Titles
rEVOLUTION: Notes for the Invasion: mar mar march 1972 00:02:10 Single Titles
Riley, Roily, River 1975 00:01:30 Early Video Art, Single Titles
Search Olga Gold 1973 00:06:00 Early Video Art, Single Titles
Sirens 1977 00:06:47 Early Video Art, Single Titles
Symmetry 2016 00:01:36 Single Titles
Sympathetic Vibrations 1986 00:04:10 Single Titles
Sympathetic Vibrations: The Videoworks of Paul Kos 2016 01:07:00 Box Sets, Single Artist Compilations
Tower of Babel 1987 00:14:10 Single Titles
A Trophy/Atrophy 1972 00:03:13 Early Video Art, Single Titles
Warlock(ing) 1971 00:07:30 Early Video Art, Single Titles

Related Content

Press
Conceptual artist mixes Dada, dry wit
New Balance: The Work of Artist Paul Kos
Ice Makes Fire
Does Credit Go Where Credit Is Due?

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