Michael Kopietz Cosmic Mindscapes of Beauty and Desire
by Marie Geissler
Leonardo da Vinci said that artists should take inspiration from the shapes and patterns of the natural world. International artist, Michael Kopietz does precisely this. In his most recent epoxy-resin works, he masterfully orchestrates its energy of process in petrified abstraction. These, like the earlier works in other mediums intriguingly explore the emotional landscape of the artist while addressing a timeless dimension that’s evoked in the subject of beauty. In by-passing any form of realistic representation Kopietz invites the viewer to the subjective world of perception and in the purity of abstraction attempts to capture the intangible, poetic intensity and exquisite transcendence of the per se indefinable essence of beauty. The Art Traders Gallery in Sydney will be showcasing a series of his highly sought after epoxy resin paintings and sculptures from 18 -30 November. He will be exhibiting in Wellington, New Zealand, at the Chaffers Gallery in February next year.
Essentially Kopietz’ works approach beauty as a private world of refuge, a place of calm and harmony from which regeneration arises. In this, his works, while acknowledging the chaos of all around, embody a detachment and optimism generated from this space. For example, in his resin-based drip series, the laws of physics and gravity’s pull make a stunning debut. The result, a compelling series of dynamic works that explore the cosmic principles of chaos and entropy. For example in his monumental and powerful Hold Back the River (2008), liquid flows of luscious paint are underpinned by meanings on several levels, some global some personal; on the negative side, the reference to a world where rivers are drying up and place where tears never cease to flow. Alternatively we see the reverse of both scenarios, a positive statement celebrating balance restored, where water is conserved and suffering overcome. The artist’s use of bright colour and harmonious composition argue for the latter interpretation. Feelings of vulnerability in the sexual encounter are explored in the dyptich I am a Lucky boy/ I am a Lucky girl and Kissing a Fool (2008). Both resin-based works, the pulse like contrasts of colourfully striped surfaces investigate chromatic resonance while symbolically evoking the complex range of emotions laid bare in sensual intimacy. Again the balance achieved in the composition advises and celebrates detachment; wholeness in a world where all is serene and tranquil.
In other large scale acrylic paintings such as Long Stella (2005) or Come and Play with Me (2006) and Underneath your Clothes (2008), Kopietz’s work seems to be the antithesis of this dynamism. In these he engages in studied precision, painting totally structured, crisply and colorfully striped tableaux, disciplined by fixed intervals and repetitive rhythm, where the center is all but irrelevant. Nonetheless these works are best understood as responses to architectural space with an air of eloquently programmed randomness, each with its own internal and balanced logic. They, like those of his more spontaneous paintings, are works of art that are environments in themselves, each self contained in a kind of artistic cosmos.
Using epoxy resin in a more straightforward way, are his multi-layered reductionist works in soft shimmering monochromes. Like the meditative works of Mark Rothko, paintings Pink on Top and Three Moments of a Landscape at Dusk and his tall sculpture Ost-West (2007) radiate with a stunning luminescence, the colours gently changing from one part of the canvas to the other.
Also dreamlike in impact are his epoxy multi-layered transparency works. Here the shallow depth of the picture plane surface is explored using thin veils of colours to define a multitude of soft organic-cell like forms, fast-frozen in an aqueous microscopic reality. This phase started in 2007 with Rosette and went on to include his Plasma Love Series and Rendez-vous in Darlinghurst, ending with the tantalizing 2008 Lollypop Suite.
In exquisitely painted sculpture, we see Kopietz in far more playful mode. Medium and small scale works like Ball Game or Bubble Wave (2007), explore both whimsy and sensuality with an invitation to "let's have fun." The brilliantly inventive Lolita Series (2008), candy-coloured breast shaped works painted with bulls eye precision are a fabulously evocative of their provocative namesake. Other 2005 small square constructions, such as Surprise Boxes and 3D-Post Pop Tableau, in celebration of their Pop Culture origins, play with references to sweets and consumer culture. A series of wall mounted boxes, they are painted with intricately patterned and colourful geometries. Reminiscent of the visual plays of Op and Kinetic Art, they embrace the visually spectacular in small self-contained worlds.
Kopietz’s genius lies in the refined and highly polished way he creates his work. They don’t appear like paintings, rather like precious objects, commodities of desire. He integrates his application of paint to front and side of the canvas or sculpture surface, erasing a sense of foreground and background. And while they appear on one level to be highly considered or planned, on another they may also embody the accidental or spontaneous.
In some we experience the materiality of process through his laying bare of the drip technique of paint onto canvas and seeing what happens when one colour flows into another. In others the playful expresses itself in the selection of seemingly random colours which brightly dot the surface in precise and varied collections of lines. The works don’t dictate, rather they are self revelatory offering at once a sense of play. On another level, Kopietz’ works are always simply beautiful. They express an inner glow and fluidity of space that evoke symbolically, harmonious interconnection. They are potently present and while discrete and self contained, they resonate with a jewelled sensuousness that invites viewers to engage imaginatively in their own subjective thoughts and feelings.
To this end he deploys a sophisticated and eloquent aesthetic honed to evoke beauty, memory of landscape and a sense of mystery. The soft and lush properties of resin conspire to this end, celebrating a lustrous and glimmering materiality. He explores a geometric drama that’s layered and tracks a meditative spatial order that finds parallels in the work of Malevich, Joseph Albers, László Moholy-Nagy, Mondrian, Morris Lewis, Helen Frankenthaler, Bridget Riley, Donald Judd and Jim Long.
Born in 1972 in Rhade, North Rhine Westphalia, German artist Michael Kopietz is inspired by the old masters of the early 20th century, painters of abstraction who explore the properties of colour and the geometry space. Kopietz has exhibited successfully in Berlin, Hanover, Madrid, Vienna and Sydney. He has works in private collections in New York, London, Rome, Kuwait, Ibiza, Melbourne, Sydney, Brussels, Barcelona, Madrid, Berlin, Cologne, Hanover, Lugano and Vienna. He is represented by galleries in Berlin, Zurich, Barcelona, Sydney and Wellington. He lives in Sydney and Germany.
In summary, the work of Michael Kopietz of the past four years comes close to an abstraction of nature in terms that Da Vinci could surely appreciate, revealing his considerable stature as a mature artist. While nature’s patterns and forms are certainly there in his abstractions, so too is its sense of complexity and order. Importantly, it is also both exciting and inspirationally reflective of the complex art historical movements of his times.
Marie Geissler is a Sydney based art historian and international curator who over the past 20 years has written extensively on the visual arts in both Australia and internationally. Her publication track record includes articles in Business Review Weekly, the Australian Financial Review, Sydney Morning Herald, Qantas Club Magazine, Indesign, Art New Zealand, the Australian Collectors Quarterly, The Collector (UK), Canberra Times, The Australian and others. She also writes on Australian Aboriginal art and is a regular contributor to Craft Arts International Magazine.
by Marie Geissler
Leonardo da Vinci said that artists should take inspiration from the shapes and patterns of the natural world. International artist, Michael Kopietz does precisely this. In his most recent epoxy-resin works, he masterfully orchestrates its energy of process in petrified abstraction. These, like the earlier works in other mediums intriguingly explore the emotional landscape of the artist while addressing a timeless dimension that’s evoked in the subject of beauty. In by-passing any form of realistic representation Kopietz invites the viewer to the subjective world of perception and in the purity of abstraction attempts to capture the intangible, poetic intensity and exquisite transcendence of the per se indefinable essence of beauty. The Art Traders Gallery in Sydney will be showcasing a series of his highly sought after epoxy resin paintings and sculptures from 18 -30 November. He will be exhibiting in Wellington, New Zealand, at the Chaffers Gallery in February next year.
Essentially Kopietz’ works approach beauty as a private world of refuge, a place of calm and harmony from which regeneration arises. In this, his works, while acknowledging the chaos of all around, embody a detachment and optimism generated from this space. For example, in his resin-based drip series, the laws of physics and gravity’s pull make a stunning debut. The result, a compelling series of dynamic works that explore the cosmic principles of chaos and entropy. For example in his monumental and powerful Hold Back the River (2008), liquid flows of luscious paint are underpinned by meanings on several levels, some global some personal; on the negative side, the reference to a world where rivers are drying up and place where tears never cease to flow. Alternatively we see the reverse of both scenarios, a positive statement celebrating balance restored, where water is conserved and suffering overcome. The artist’s use of bright colour and harmonious composition argue for the latter interpretation. Feelings of vulnerability in the sexual encounter are explored in the dyptich I am a Lucky boy/ I am a Lucky girl and Kissing a Fool (2008). Both resin-based works, the pulse like contrasts of colourfully striped surfaces investigate chromatic resonance while symbolically evoking the complex range of emotions laid bare in sensual intimacy. Again the balance achieved in the composition advises and celebrates detachment; wholeness in a world where all is serene and tranquil.
In other large scale acrylic paintings such as Long Stella (2005) or Come and Play with Me (2006) and Underneath your Clothes (2008), Kopietz’s work seems to be the antithesis of this dynamism. In these he engages in studied precision, painting totally structured, crisply and colorfully striped tableaux, disciplined by fixed intervals and repetitive rhythm, where the center is all but irrelevant. Nonetheless these works are best understood as responses to architectural space with an air of eloquently programmed randomness, each with its own internal and balanced logic. They, like those of his more spontaneous paintings, are works of art that are environments in themselves, each self contained in a kind of artistic cosmos.
Using epoxy resin in a more straightforward way, are his multi-layered reductionist works in soft shimmering monochromes. Like the meditative works of Mark Rothko, paintings Pink on Top and Three Moments of a Landscape at Dusk and his tall sculpture Ost-West (2007) radiate with a stunning luminescence, the colours gently changing from one part of the canvas to the other.
Also dreamlike in impact are his epoxy multi-layered transparency works. Here the shallow depth of the picture plane surface is explored using thin veils of colours to define a multitude of soft organic-cell like forms, fast-frozen in an aqueous microscopic reality. This phase started in 2007 with Rosette and went on to include his Plasma Love Series and Rendez-vous in Darlinghurst, ending with the tantalizing 2008 Lollypop Suite.
In exquisitely painted sculpture, we see Kopietz in far more playful mode. Medium and small scale works like Ball Game or Bubble Wave (2007), explore both whimsy and sensuality with an invitation to "let's have fun." The brilliantly inventive Lolita Series (2008), candy-coloured breast shaped works painted with bulls eye precision are a fabulously evocative of their provocative namesake. Other 2005 small square constructions, such as Surprise Boxes and 3D-Post Pop Tableau, in celebration of their Pop Culture origins, play with references to sweets and consumer culture. A series of wall mounted boxes, they are painted with intricately patterned and colourful geometries. Reminiscent of the visual plays of Op and Kinetic Art, they embrace the visually spectacular in small self-contained worlds.
Kopietz’s genius lies in the refined and highly polished way he creates his work. They don’t appear like paintings, rather like precious objects, commodities of desire. He integrates his application of paint to front and side of the canvas or sculpture surface, erasing a sense of foreground and background. And while they appear on one level to be highly considered or planned, on another they may also embody the accidental or spontaneous.
In some we experience the materiality of process through his laying bare of the drip technique of paint onto canvas and seeing what happens when one colour flows into another. In others the playful expresses itself in the selection of seemingly random colours which brightly dot the surface in precise and varied collections of lines. The works don’t dictate, rather they are self revelatory offering at once a sense of play. On another level, Kopietz’ works are always simply beautiful. They express an inner glow and fluidity of space that evoke symbolically, harmonious interconnection. They are potently present and while discrete and self contained, they resonate with a jewelled sensuousness that invites viewers to engage imaginatively in their own subjective thoughts and feelings.
To this end he deploys a sophisticated and eloquent aesthetic honed to evoke beauty, memory of landscape and a sense of mystery. The soft and lush properties of resin conspire to this end, celebrating a lustrous and glimmering materiality. He explores a geometric drama that’s layered and tracks a meditative spatial order that finds parallels in the work of Malevich, Joseph Albers, László Moholy-Nagy, Mondrian, Morris Lewis, Helen Frankenthaler, Bridget Riley, Donald Judd and Jim Long.
Born in 1972 in Rhade, North Rhine Westphalia, German artist Michael Kopietz is inspired by the old masters of the early 20th century, painters of abstraction who explore the properties of colour and the geometry space. Kopietz has exhibited successfully in Berlin, Hanover, Madrid, Vienna and Sydney. He has works in private collections in New York, London, Rome, Kuwait, Ibiza, Melbourne, Sydney, Brussels, Barcelona, Madrid, Berlin, Cologne, Hanover, Lugano and Vienna. He is represented by galleries in Berlin, Zurich, Barcelona, Sydney and Wellington. He lives in Sydney and Germany.
In summary, the work of Michael Kopietz of the past four years comes close to an abstraction of nature in terms that Da Vinci could surely appreciate, revealing his considerable stature as a mature artist. While nature’s patterns and forms are certainly there in his abstractions, so too is its sense of complexity and order. Importantly, it is also both exciting and inspirationally reflective of the complex art historical movements of his times.
Marie Geissler is a Sydney based art historian and international curator who over the past 20 years has written extensively on the visual arts in both Australia and internationally. Her publication track record includes articles in Business Review Weekly, the Australian Financial Review, Sydney Morning Herald, Qantas Club Magazine, Indesign, Art New Zealand, the Australian Collectors Quarterly, The Collector (UK), Canberra Times, The Australian and others. She also writes on Australian Aboriginal art and is a regular contributor to Craft Arts International Magazine.