My Kupfer Paintings evoke transitions. Transition from past to present. From child to adult. From son to father. These themes of transition are conveyed in the materials, in the processes, and in the imagery.
I use copper and reclaimed wood as materials to convey this theme. The wood, while mostly hidden, had a prior life as a joist, siding for a house, a fence along a property edge. Whatever the purpose, this past informs the piece. To bolster that history I use copper (and copper alloys), because copper is the first metal we learned to work, and it inherently evokes eras past. I encourage a heavy patina to form on the surface of the copper and wrap it around or fasten it to the wood.
The reclaimed wood and heavy patinas reinforce the passage of time. The surface contrasts highlight the transition from the beautiful shiny copper (representing the new) to the organic beauty of the patina surface (representing the passage of time) to the image. The attention to materials and process serves to further the transitions implied in the imagery I choose. Father and son, hand in hand. Mother and child, walking together. A boy and a girl, holding hands. The images appear to rise from the patina…or be obscured by it. Each evokes a fond memory, reminding us that time moves on, but that our past remains in our memories.
