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Hortensia Mi Kafchin - Artists - PPOW

Hortensia Mi Kafchin (b. 1986) was born in Galati, Romania and lives works in Berlin, Germany. Within her multifaceted practice, Kafchin unites a highly classical painting style with a distinctive set of motifs and an enduring fascination with hybridity that reflects the blended visual environment of our media age. As a figurative painter making work about the contemporary trans experience, Kafchin vividly renders the personal in utopian scenes that comment on the technological, environmental, and socio-political realities of our time. Kafchin received a degree from the University of Art and Design in Cluj in 2010. Her work can be found in collections including the Centre Pompidou, Paris, France; the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, New York, NY; and the Ludwig Museum, Köln, Germany. Kafchin has presented solo exhibitions at the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest, Romania; Galerie Judin, Berlin, Germany; Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Art Encounters Foundation, Timișoara, Romania; Lyles & King, New York, NY; and Museum of Art, Cluj, Romania, among others. Kafchin has also taken part in group exhibitions at the Centre Pompidou, Paris, France; New Museum, New York, NY; Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna, Austria; The Centre for Contemporary Art, Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, Poland; Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France; and Espace Culturel Louis Vuitton, Paris, France, among others. In 2023, Kafchin presented her first solo exhibition with P·P·O·W, Years of Bad Hair. She presented her third solo exhibition with Galerie Judin, Cheerful Melancholia, in early 2024.

Hortensia Mi Kafchin

b. 1986, Galati, Romania
Lives and works in Berlin, Germany 

Education

2010 University of Art and Design, Cluj, Romania

Solo Exhibitions

2024
Cheerful Melancholia, Galerie Judin, Berlin, Germany 

2023
Years of Bad Hair, P·P·O·W, New York, NY 

2020
Hortensia Mi Kafchin, Elephant West, London, UK 
Hortensia Mi Kafchin: Death Is Not a Piece of Cake, Galerie Judin, Berlin, Germany

2019
Hortensia Mi Kafchin: Chemtrails, Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 

2018
Between Nights, Lyles & King, New York, NY 

2016
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, Galerie Judin, Berlin, Germany 
Mihuț Boșcu Kafchin: Memories from the Depth of the Tethys Sea, The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest, Romania 
Mihuț Boșcu Kafchin: Chronicles of My Fantastic Banality, BWA SOKÓŁ Gallery, Nowy Sącz, Poland 

2015
Mihuț Boșcu Kafchin: Reverse Engineering of the Self, Trafó Gallery – House of Contemporary Arts, Budapest, Hungary 
Mihuț Boșcu Kafchin: Fraction of Lightnings, Plants, and Synapses, Sabot, Cluj, Romania 

2014
Relative Kinematics of a Passing Moment, Gaudel de Stampa, Paris, France 
Mihuț Boșcu Kafchin: If a screw falls in an abandoned robot workshop and there’s nobody around to hear, does it make a sound?, Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 

2013
Mihuț Boșcu Kafchin: Immortals Have Fun, Crystal, Stockholm, Sweden 
Il Clouds, Gaudel de Stampa, Paris, France 

2011
Mihuț Boșcu Kafchin: A Prologue to Vanity and Self-Adoration, Sabot, Cluj, Romania 

2010
Mihuț Boșcu Kafchin: How it’s Made, Laika Art Space, Cluj, Romania 

2009
Mihuț Boșcu Kafchin: Long Gone Future, Museum of Art, Cluj, Romania 

Select Group Exhibitions

2024
Ghost Image, Galerie Judin, Berlin, Germany
FULL DISCLOSURE: Selections from the Thomas-Suwall Collection, The Plains Art Museum, Fargo, ND 
I’m a thousand different people—Every one is real, Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, New York, NY 
Goddesses, Amazons, and Mothers, Romanian Cultural Institute, New York, NY 

2023
SIRANI, Galerie Judin, Berlin, Germany 
Looking Anew and Beyond: Contemporary Romanian Art from the Collection, Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, VA 
My Rhino Is Not a Myth: Art Encounters Biennial 2023, Timisoara, Romania 
Les Enchantées, HAUNT, Berlin, Germany 

2022
Machines of Desire, Simon Lee Gallery, London, UK 
I’m Not Your Mother, P·P·O·W, New York, NYC 

2021
TEKNOLUST: OBJECTOPHILIC FUTURES, WOAW Gallery, Central, Hong Kong 
Listen to Us – Artistic Intelligence, SKLAD, Plovidv, Bulgaria 
La Brique, The Brick, Cărămida, La Kunsthalle Mulhouse – Centre d’art contemporain, Mulhouse, France
Trans World, Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Trans World, Galeria Nicodim, Bucharest, Romania
You’ve never seen the lonely me at all, Skånes konstförening, Malmö, Sweden
Ex-East. Past and recent stories of the Romanian avant-garde, Espace Niemeyer, Paris, France 

2018
BioPerversity, Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles, CA  
Seeing Eye Awareness, City Gallery of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia 
Formal Encounters, Galeria Nicodim, Bucharest, Romania 
La Chose, Centre d’Art Contemporain – La Synagogue de Delme, Delme, France 
The Unpleasant Show, Jecza Gallery, Timișoara, Romania 

2017
The Basilisk, Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Half-Truth, The Museum of Sculpture at Królikarnia, Warsaw, Poland 

2015
Art Encounters: Appearance and Essence, Timco Halls, Timișoara, Romania 
La Chose, Centre d’Art Contemporain – La Synagogue de Delme, Delme, FR 
Mapping Bucharest. Art, Memory, and Revolution 1916 – 2016, MAK Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kunst / Gegenwartskunst, Vienna, Austria
Cluj Connection 3D, Galerie Judin, Berlin, Germany 

2014
Fragile Sense of Hope – Art Collection Telekom, The Collectors Room Berlin / Stiftung Olbricht, Berlin, Germany 
A Few Grams of Red, Yellow, Blue: New Romanian Art, The Centre for Contemporary Art, Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, Poland 
Report on the Construction of a Spaceship Module. Museum as Hub, New Museum, New York, NY 

2013
Scènes roumaines, Espace Culturel Louis Vuitton, Paris, France
Yellowing of the Lunar Consciousness, Palazzo Bonvicini, Venice, Italy
Prague Biennale 6: Expanded Painting, Prague, Czech Republic
It’s Compulsory that we Have a Title, Salonul de Projecte, Bucharest, Romania  

2012
The Biennial of Young Artists, Bucharest, Romania
Original/Copy III, Peles Empire, Cluj, Romania
La Triennale: Intense Proximity, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
European Travellers – Art from Cluj Today, Műcsarnok – Kunsthalle Budapest, Budapest, Hungary 

2011
Walter Koschatzky Kunst-Preis 2011, MuMoK – Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna, Austria  
BERLIN SHOW #3: Glimpse, Galeria Plan B, Berlin, Germany 

2009
International Student’s Biennial of Small Sculpture Form, Poznań, Poland 

Select Collections

Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Collection Deutsche Telekom, Bonn, Germany 
Hort Family Collection, New York, NY 
Leslie Lohman Museum of Art, New York, NY
Ludwig Museum, Cologne, Germany 

Select Bibliography

2023
Judin, Juerg, Pay Matthis Karstens. SIRANI. Berlin: Galerie Judin, 2023.  
Roncati, Elisabetta. Arte Queer: corpi, segni, storie. Milan: Rizzoli, 2023. 

2018
Kafchin, Mi, et al. Mi Kafchin Self-Fulfilling Prophecy. Berlin: Galerie Judin, 2018.  

Selected Works

Selected Works Thumbnails
Hortensia Mi Kafchin
Vessels, 2023
oil on canvas
63 x 51 1/8 x 1 1/8 ins.
160 x 130 x 3 cm

Hortensia Mi Kafchin
Vessels, 2023
oil on canvas
63 x 51 1/8 x 1 1/8 ins.
160 x 130 x 3 cm

Hortensia Mi Kafchin
Global Warming and Dysphoria, 2023
oil on canvas
55 1/8 x 63 ins.
140 x 160 cm

Hortensia Mi Kafchin
Global Warming and Dysphoria, 2023
oil on canvas
55 1/8 x 63 ins.
140 x 160 cm

Hortensia Mi Kafchin
Years of Bad Hair Day, 2022 - 2023
oil on canvas
47 1/4 x 39 3/8 ins.
120 x 100 cm

Hortensia Mi Kafchin
Years of Bad Hair Day, 2022 - 2023
oil on canvas
47 1/4 x 39 3/8 ins.
120 x 100 cm

Hortensia Mi Kafchin
Battle Bots and Deep Anesthesia, 2023
oil on canvas
47 1/4 x 39 3/8 ins.
120 x 100 cm

Hortensia Mi Kafchin
Battle Bots and Deep Anesthesia, 2023
oil on canvas
47 1/4 x 39 3/8 ins.
120 x 100 cm

Hortensia Mi Kafchin
Mother of singularity, 2022 - 2023
oil on canvas with metallic paint and spray
75 3/4 x 96 1/2 ins.
192.5 x 245 cm

Hortensia Mi Kafchin
Mother of singularity, 2022 - 2023
oil on canvas with metallic paint and spray
75 3/4 x 96 1/2 ins.
192.5 x 245 cm

Hortensia Mi Kafchin
On my way, 2022
oil on canvas
47 1/4 x 39 3/8 ins.
120 x 100 cm

Hortensia Mi Kafchin
On my way, 2022
oil on canvas
47 1/4 x 39 3/8 ins.
120 x 100 cm

Hortensia Mi Kafchin
Vessels, 2023
oil on canvas
63 x 51 1/8 x 1 1/8 ins.
160 x 130 x 3 cm

Hortensia Mi Kafchin
Vessels, 2023
oil on canvas
63 x 51 1/8 x 1 1/8 ins.
160 x 130 x 3 cm

Hortensia Mi Kafchin
Global Warming and Dysphoria, 2023
oil on canvas
55 1/8 x 63 ins.
140 x 160 cm

Hortensia Mi Kafchin
Global Warming and Dysphoria, 2023
oil on canvas
55 1/8 x 63 ins.
140 x 160 cm

Hortensia Mi Kafchin
Years of Bad Hair Day, 2022 - 2023
oil on canvas
47 1/4 x 39 3/8 ins.
120 x 100 cm

Hortensia Mi Kafchin
Years of Bad Hair Day, 2022 - 2023
oil on canvas
47 1/4 x 39 3/8 ins.
120 x 100 cm

Hortensia Mi Kafchin
Battle Bots and Deep Anesthesia, 2023
oil on canvas
47 1/4 x 39 3/8 ins.
120 x 100 cm

Hortensia Mi Kafchin
Battle Bots and Deep Anesthesia, 2023
oil on canvas
47 1/4 x 39 3/8 ins.
120 x 100 cm

Hortensia Mi Kafchin
Mother of singularity, 2022 - 2023
oil on canvas with metallic paint and spray
75 3/4 x 96 1/2 ins.
192.5 x 245 cm

Hortensia Mi Kafchin
Mother of singularity, 2022 - 2023
oil on canvas with metallic paint and spray
75 3/4 x 96 1/2 ins.
192.5 x 245 cm

Hortensia Mi Kafchin
On my way, 2022
oil on canvas
47 1/4 x 39 3/8 ins.
120 x 100 cm

Hortensia Mi Kafchin
On my way, 2022
oil on canvas
47 1/4 x 39 3/8 ins.
120 x 100 cm