Irene Kopelman

Born in: 1974
From: Córdoba, Argentina
Lives and works: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Represented by: Galerie Jocelyn Wolff, LABOR
Website: http://www.irenekopelman.com/
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irene_Kopelman

UN goals

Biography

Glaciers, tropical forests, seascapes, volcanic topographies, patterns made by crabs: such are some of the wonders Irene Kopelman records to later transform into sculptures, paintings, and even puzzles. The artist travels across the globe to remote regions like Malaysia, Hawaii, the Arctic, and more to record astonishing ecosystems so as to understand how our entangled landscapes function. Her cross-disciplinary approach has led her to work with botanists, paleontologists, topographers, biologists, and scientists at large, transforming her oeuvre into scientific documents.

Taking inspiration from documents from the 18th and 19th century, Kopelman creates minimalist and layered maps where she plays with scales. Reducing landscapes to their simplest forms, the artist shares with Hanne Darboven’s work its austere aesthetics and her taste for rational methodologies. However, her works are always fragmented, proving the limitations of representation compared to the vastness of our ecosystems.

Painstakingly recording the existing variations in landscape, Kopelman aims to improve our relation to nature through her work. Her serene paintings and drawings are analogous to John Muir’s work, both devoting their work to the conservation of nature.

Career highlights

Solo shows

2021, Kranenburg, Bergen, The Netherlands: Irene Kopelman. A tiny world and countless compositions
2018, MALBA, Buenos Aires, Argentina: Puntos Cardinales
2018, MAMAC, Nice, France: On Growing intertwined, knotted, coiled landscapes
2015, FLORA ars + natura, Bogotá, Colombia: Frisos
2013, Fondation d’entreprise Hermès - La Verrière, Brussels, Belgium: Chiral Garden