ART CITIES:London-Francisco Copello
Francisco Copello primarily developed his artistic career in Italy and the United States where he lived interchangeably for 30 years. He later returned to Chile only a decade before passing away. Copello’s work is characterized by corporeal language that spans his artistic production in various formats: collage, photography, print media, performance, mime, and painting. The driving concept and guide for Copello’s work was his own life.
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Cecilia Brunson Projects
The exhibition “Mi arte es mi cuerpo (My art is my body)” at Cecilia Brunson Projects in London is the first UK exhibition of work by the acclaimed Chilean performance artist Francisco Copello, who worked in a variety of media but central to all his work was the overriding theme that “mi arte es mi cuerpo”. Combining photographs and collages solely from the Juan Yarur collection the exhibition presents works that span over 30 years, also video excerpts of some of his performances are also on view. Central to all of the works is Copello himself, whether capturing previous performance pieces in the elaborate collages or using himself as the subject. He embodied the concept of what he described as “Living art”. Within the depictions, the artist explores a multitude of complex issues, ranging from sexual ambiguity and identity, to national identity. While some close-up self-portraits are immediately reminiscent of Duchamp’s “Rrose Sélavy”, others have a more political agenda. The series of B&W photographs of the artist dancing with the Chilean flag are haunting images that remind the viewer of the artist’s exile from his homeland. Francisco Copello studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, from 1962 to 1966 and later at Pratt Graphics Center in New York from 1967 to 1968. In 1969 he worked in the same city with the musician and artist Fernando Torm with whom he founded “Taller 69”, a space dedicated to engraving, collage, modern music and body art. There they experimented with printmaking, collage, modern music and body-art. As well as printing all his own work, Copello printed works for key artists of the era: Adolf Gottlieb, Rainer Fetting, David Hockney, Keith Haring and others. In parallel to his work he studied dance with choreographer Laura Dean and participated in the first plays of Robert Wilson between 1971 and 1972. In 1974 he traveled to Milan, Italy to develop his career in the field of Body-Art. During the 10 years he lived in Italy, his performances were photographed by well-known artists of this area such as Giuseppe Pino, Giovanna del Magro, Maurizio Buscarino and Giuliana Traverso. During his stay in the Italian city, he was Professor of Body Art at the Leona Le Visconte School, Teatro Dell’Elfo. In the ‘80s he worked in the production of videos for Andy Warhol. He was the Director of the Frank Copello Print Shop, where he edited prints of contemporary artists such as: Wifredo Lam, Sandro Chia, Rainer Fetting, Mark Kostabi, Keith Haring , Stanley Boxer, Paul Jenkins and Rachel Friedberg, among others. In 1986 Copello accepted a founding role in the formation of the American Mime Theatre of New York (under Paul Curtis). Copello was later to bring this back to his home country in 1996 when he taught Body Art and Body Expressionism at the University of Chile. He became a deeply influential figure to future generations of Chilean artists, such as Carlos Leppe. When he later left to return to Italy, much of his performative work was a reaction to the social and political turmoil that Chile was facing at that time. Francisco Copello died in Santiago, Chile in 2006.
Info: Cecilia Brunson Projects, Royal Oak Yard, Bermondsey Street, London, Duration: 13/6-28/7/17, Days & Hours: Tue-Fti 12:00-18:00, Sat 12:00-17:00, www.ceciliabrunsonprojects.com
