FOR SOME DEEPLY IMMEDIATE RELEASE PAUL KOPKAU LIGHT AS A FEATHER STIFF AS A BOARD 10/27/07-11/23/07 Opening Reception Saturday October 27th, 7-9pm TRUDI is so pumped to bring the work of New York based Paul Kopkau to Los Angles. Light As A Feather Stiff As A Board expands on Kopkau’s intense/inventive/reflexive collages as seen previously in group shows at both John Connelly and Gavin Brown Enterprises and will be seen in forthcoming TRUDI exhibition Triumph of the Will. “ Kopkau’s photo collage depicts a magical space where positive other worldly forces are decoratively illustrated. What unfolds is a playful celebration of the unknown touching on metaphysics, witchcraft, faith and magic. He redefines the aesthetics of these areas through a sobering pallet, an optimistic excitement and a religious significance created by elaborate decoration. In this piece Light As A Feather Stiff As A Board a force is an unleashed setting everyday objects free to fly through the sky along side past works from the artist. In this space objects pass through wormholes creating shifts in scale while a bust of Abraham Lincoln acts as witness. Abraham appears wearing lipstick and eyeshadow. This signifies the possibility of this energy to be a force of change, potentially ushering in a new society that embraces masculine and feminine power equally. This sculpture of Abraham Lincoln is a recurring icon in Kopkau’s work. Kopkau’s large-scale collages are at the top level of a self-created art making hierarchy. In these collages past work from the artist are exhibited and work together to form a new image. Re- photographed smaller collages, Kopkau’s zine “Girlfriends” and the sculpture of “gaybraham” make guest appearances in Light as a Feather Stiff As A Board. By using his own work as source material Kopkau is free to be involved in all of the different practices he is interested in, including making zines, drawings and sculpture. This way of working creates an endless system of self-reference. This concept was inspired by Martin Kippenberger who’s body of work is shamelessly self referential. The hierarchy also allows the artist to avoid the predictable trap of having to turn out the same “product” over and over. With his large-scale collages Kopkau has created a forum where his signature style can be a stage for an infinite number of art making activities. Kopkau's concern for an alluring decorative surface is deliberately at odds with this conceptual process. His aesthetic challenges a 70’s notion that conceptual art be masculine, minimal and dry in order to prove that it is intellectually valid. In his collages, Kopkau photographs every image and then assembles the work by overlaying 100’s of photographs. The flat space of these collages pay tribute and play on the ideas of the photographers from the Bauhaus school (Moholy-Nagy) as well as early pictorialist photographers (Henry Peach Robinson). His technique of hand cutting and reassembling is an analog way of creating a digital “Photoshop” image. With Photoshop the image can be endlessly reproduced just like straight photography. Taking an analog approach makes the photograph function as a unique object like painting or sculpture. The labor intensive process and obsessive investment in craft transform the viewing experience of straight photography.” - Michael Bullock, 2007 Kopkau received his B.F.A. degree in photography from SVA in 2004. He is the recipient of the Robert Mapplethorpe grant and we’re super proud of him. So you know, come and join us on Saturday, have drink, have a dialogue, and be well. All love, TRUDI 510 Bernard St. Los Angeles, CA 90012