STEPHCOP “ASYMMETRIA” – OCTOBER, 21 > NOVEMBER, 20 2016
« The tree is alive as much as humans are; Bigger, stronger, older, with deeper roots. ARO has a soul, the tree’s one. »
David Bloch Gallery is honoured to present Steph.Cop new exhibition « Assymetria » from October 21st to November 20th. For his second solo show in Marrakech – while the city is getting ready to host COP22 – the artist present a series of works on paper and fifteen sculptures from two generation of his introspective work ARO (Obsessive Reflex Analysis): the Copelini ARO and the Assymetria ARO, exclusive new serie.
With a heavy chainsaw, the artist trims pieces in full of history trees and uses their imperfections to carve majestic forms. A meeting between machine and nature, a new reading of the sculpted figure of ARO in different kind of woods as if the artist freed the foreshadowed sculpture from the tree. The exigent raw material needs to be tamed with power and sweetness. Each piece takes time to emerge, slowly maturing. ARO is a reflection about creation at a specific time, following the artist’s emotions and the tree memory that crossed hundreds of years. A natural creation where human hand follows the line marked by the time. The rendering is tearing of sensitivity.
While the Copelini ARO is the carved avatar approaching the tree verticality, the Assymetria ARO, the second generation, leaves nothing to chance. It is a mirror of first generation, exploring asymmetrical abstractions, metal insertions and allowing the artist to imagine a project of a giant 315 inches outdoor sculpture in Moroccan desert. It is the explanation of ARO in a volume, the confrontation between the sculpture and full and empty, a research in several steps with studies and sketches. The tree sagittal section is the beginning of the explanatory work. It shows first the initial volume and then, half of an ARO carved from the middle. This sculpture offers a better understanding of the space its takes to the volume to exist and the required tree size to produce this volume.
David Bloch Gallery honors for the second time the work of the talented sculptor Steph.Cop who injects poetry in the wood treatment, giving a unique presence to his sculptures.
« ARO is an obsession, an orderly succession, mathematically constructed of suites, each arising from the previous. It is an unfinished construction, an endless experience.»