Andreas Kopp

Multilocal

Born in Amsterdam, growing up here as well as in Hamburg and The Hague, Andreas Kopp finally stranded in the Rhineland. He then studied Fine Arts at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf at the early age of seventeen and was awarded with the Ernst-Barlach-Price in 1992. For his record cover of "Auf dem Kreuzzug ins Glück" he received a "Golden Record" for more than 250.000 sold copies from the Düsseldorf based punk-rock band "Die Toten Hosen".
Since his first one-person show (The Rembrandt-Lounge, 1991), which was presented at the Goethe-Institut Rotterdam and the Klaus Littmann Gallery in Basel, Andreas has shown his works in numerous group and one-person shows all over Europe and Japan; rewarded with quite some recognition and advancements. Unique feature of his work is the use of metal as basis of his paintings and installations, eventually clinched and / or with cuts and corroded engravings. Due to its plasticity the metal ground supports Kopp's vexing game of spatiality and surface, of art and object of utility. This multilayered understanding yielded him several public and private commissions. Amongst other projects for public space, he designed the 2.000 sq m interior glass-facades for Europe's largest event-dome, the Cologne Arena (today Lanxess Arena). In 2011 a 10 m high, enlightened sculpture ("Marker Tree") has been erected in Dublin, landmarking the south gate on the motorway at Tallaght, changing it´s appearance from day to night.
Whilst working on further commissioned sculptures for public space he also got back to his roots of smaller, very fragile paintworks by embroidering watercolors; violating the brittle surfaces of the painted paper sheets with stitches of tapestry needles, spinning an supplementary structure over the motif and bringing it back into the slim purgatory sector between spacious structure and flat representation.
Andreas Kopp now lives with his Jamaican partner in life and their daughter in an idyllic rural setting in eastern Westfalia in the midst of Germany.

What is it about your studio space that inspires you?

I´ve got various studio spaces, depending what I´m working on. They all have a quiet, rural setting, ranging from small and medium size at home to large scaled in a nearby castle, owned by friends.

What sounds, scents and sights do you encounter while in your studio?

sounds: Sometimes I like to follow radio programs, though it´s unpredictability keeps me alert . Certain types of african music can take me away, besides my broad record collection of jamaican music. Scents: just paint or smells of workshop; sights: just studio settings, no big window fronts that would distract me. But studio work basically happens at nights, anyway.

What is your favourite material to work with? How has your use of it evolved throughout your practice?

various. anything that gives me more than just one option to work on it. I established metal sheets instead as canvas, though I can cut and clinch it into any shape I want.

What themes do you pursue?

no limits

What advice has had the biggest impact on your career?

think big, even when your work can be small

If you could install your art absolutely anywhere, where would that be?

each artwork has it´s own preferred place

If you could only have one piece of art in your life, what would it be?

than rather none, because it´s the variety that keeps art alive

If you weren´t an artist, what would you be doing?

I´d love to be an astrophysicist, but I´m afraid I ´m too much a lunkhead for that

What are your favourite places besides your studio?

Jamaica, the home of my wife, the dutch coast-lines of my childhood, Engadin in summer

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