JOHN COPLANS
1920-2003, United KingdomAiming the camera only towards himself, John Coplans questioned popular culture’s crystallized take on the male body and its connection to classical sculpture, producing humanist counter-monuments that underscore ideas of decay and vulnerability. His photographs display a number of interventions in which the body is cut and reconfigured into details and partial views, a gesture that echoes the ongoing fragmentation of bodies and matter in the digital realm of the web.
He immigrated to the United States in 1960 and began teaching at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1962, he became one of the founding editors of the magazine Artforum and was affiliated with the publication for 16 years. At the age of 60 Coplans began taking black-and-white photographs of his naked body. With this body of work he received widespread acclaim. His photographs are exhibited and acquired by renowned museums in Europe and the United States. In addition to his practice as an artist he had a prolific career as an art critic and curator.****
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