Penelope Kupfer
Penelope Kupfer – MA/MFA
My paintings and drawings are very personal dealing with the difficult and allowing internal conflict to surface with a vocabulary of painting that goes beyond the personal story. With a lot of speediness in the making, the narrative of the paintings are often humorous, dark, sometimes telling identifiable embarrassing stories. Overlooked aspects of life become visible, the mundane, domesticity and motherhood are recurring themes in my work.
During lockdown, Motherhood has become an important aspect in my work as well as interpersonal relationships and the family. Using the body and a cast of characters I am able to explore emotional and psychological mental states and their impact on the physical body. Colour and surface is a vital part of my process, in an expressionist manner the figures and their action turn into abstract forms of gestural figuration, where they can melt into a feeling or movement. Drawing from the everyday, my characters do yoga, are trapped trying to escape and liberate themselves, they laugh and cry, they are desperate, cheeky and happy, looking at german expressionism from a female perspective.
Drawing is a very important part of my work also as a process in the making. During the first lockdown last year it has helped me to make work fast in a very pressured environment where I had caring responsibilities next to the tasks of doing my Master.
My practice includes drawing, painting, printmaking and installation, as well as curatorial activities. I run two project spaces Kupfer Project which is a gallery in Hackney Central and 213 Kupfer and outdoor project that emerged during the first lockdown.