Where was contemporary artist Mark Kostabi born?

Mark Kostabi was born in Los Angeles in 1960 to Estonian immigrants. He was raised in Whittier, California and studied art at California State University, Fullerton. In 1982 he moved to New York and by 1984 he became a prominent figure of the East Village art scene, winning the "Proliferation Prize" from the East Village Eye for being in more art exhibitions than any other New York artist. This is where he friended other famed artists like Andy Warhol.

Kostabi is most known for his paintings of faceless figures which often comment on contemporary political, social and psychological issues, and which have visual stylistic roots in the work. He was featured on a myriad of TV shows & print publications, including 'Oprah Winfrey', 'Eye to Eye', '60 Minutes', 'CNN', 'MTV', 'Architectural Digest', 'Forbes' & 'Playboy'.

Kostabi's work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the National Gallery, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Yale University Art Gallery the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome and the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands.

Beyond traditional art world exposure, Kostabi has designed album covers for 'Guns 'N' Roses' and 'The Ramones'. He is also an accomplished pianist. He has performed his musical compositions as a soloist and with other musicians including Ornette Coleman, Jerry Marotta, Tony Levin & Tony Esposito.