Nomas* Projects / Art, Dundee

Whirling Wheels

STATEMENT

My artwork stems from an attempt to understand and map the interconnection of our world using Deleuze and Guattari’s Rhizome as a model: an underground, unseen expanding network of roots which acts as a metaphor for the networking of our world. Real-world geographical locations are key to this: each painting is linked to somewhere I have been: the paintings therefore collectively present a psychogeographic map formed from the mapping of spaces which I have spent time in: French motorway service stations, Spanish and Alpine road tunnels and the Rome Metro network to name a few.

The paintings use an isometric grid which both elevates the viewer above to a god’s-eye position and which removes horizons and perspectives. It was widely used in 1990s computer gaming as a rudimentary device in which to construct a landscape which could be potentially extended in all directions beyond the computer screen – or in this case, the edges of the painting. With a virtually limitless landscape, these works speak as much about what lies beyond as what can be seen in the image itself. This highlights the interconnection of everywhere and the the non-stop movement of people across the globe. The nineties game- player, assuming a god-like role, used their mouse to scroll across these vast landscapes and –in games like Sim City and Transport Tycoon, the building of endless roads and railways.

The works here reference these iconic games alongside the railway posters of the 1950s and 60s which appealed to travellers in the pre-Beeching railway age about the potential to quickly be somewhere else. Other works use the motifs from Transport Tycoon to describe the endless road networks of the world and the potential to disappear under a mountain only to emerge on the other side.

BIO

Michael Coppelov is a multidisciplinary abstract artist whose core focus is our modern, interconnected world. With symbols, signs and settings coalescing into literal and metaphorical multi-faceted canvases, Michael's imaginative paintings and animations explore complex contemporary realms. Born in Lancashire in 1983, the artist now lives and works in London.

WEBSITE:

• michaelcoppelov.com