Dimensions: image: 968 x 1108 mm
Copyright: © The estate of John Coplans | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Curator: This is John Coplans' "Self-Portrait (Hands Spread on Knees)." Editor: It's… intensely corporeal. The stark black and white, the close crop– it's unnerving. Curator: Coplans challenges traditional portraiture, focusing on the aging body, confronting societal anxieties about mortality and masculinity. The body, usually absent in art history, becomes a site of resistance. Editor: Right, and what strikes me is the raw materiality. The detail in the hands, the hair on the knees – it's not idealized. The labor of living, the physical realities of age are present in the composition itself. Curator: Precisely! Coplans’ self-representation becomes a powerful statement about visibility and the often-unseen aspects of the human experience. Editor: It definitely gives us a lot to think about how we view the body in art, and what value we assign to experience. Curator: Indeed, Coplans’ work continues to provoke dialogue.
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http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/coplans-self-portrait-hands-spread-on-knees-p11673
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These photos were taken by the artist John Coplans of his own gnarled and wrinkled body. Although they are self-portraits, Coplans doesn't show his face. Instead he focuses on isolated body parts such as hands and feet, showing them enlarged and close-up, so that they seem at once familiar and unfamiliar. Coplans' monumental images recall classical sculpture, whilst emphasising the relentless progression of the aging process. Gallery label, August 2004
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