Popel Coumou solo show at LMAKprojects

Sun, Sep 7 - Sun, Oct 12  2014

LMAKprojects is pleased to open the new season with works by Popel Coumou (Dutch, 1978) – it will be her first solo exhibit in the US. The exhibition will run from September 7 until Octobert 12, 2014. The opening reception will take place on Sunday, September 7, 5-8pm.

Popel’s work is characterized by thedichotomies within her visual language: the work is melancholic yet hopeful; solemn yet joyful; and within her work method: seemingly digitally manipulated the work is analog. In this exhibit, which is simply titled Popel Coumou she presents four landscapes photographs in which she added and layered paper shapes such as cubes, tetrahedrons and prisms and is able to attract the viewer’s attention because of the oddity and quirky presence of the object. She is able to hold the viewers’ attentiveness as she creates recognizable, memorable places.

Besides the photographs there are also four light boxes in which she pushes the narrative and personable into the abstract. The light source in the light box can be controlled by the viewer and allow to see various stages of the work. The suprematist like abstractions are softened as the light starts to expose glimpses of a landscape or sunset and give a new sentiment to the structures as a whole.

In her photographs and in the light boxes, Popel is able to create the impression of the third dimension. Through the cast of light and the dramatic shadows that are created through the layers of paper, Popel controls the mood, setting and space allowing the work to be between painterly abstraction and geometric photography.

Popel Coumou’s work has been shown and collected by museums such as Gemeentemuseum The Hague; Museum Het Domein in Sittard; Foam, Photography Museum in Amsterdam and Huis Marseille Museum of Photography, also in Amsterdam. Her work is included in public and private collections like Statoil in Rotterdam, the Dutch Ministry in The Hague and AMC in Amsterdam. She has received the following awards: Foam Talent, Mercure Cultuur price and was nominated for the Paul Huf Award. In 2012 Willem van Zoetendaal Publishers published in collaboration with Torch Gallery, Amsterdam Popel’s first catalogue. Her commissions include the Mercure Hotel in The Hague, Hilton Hotel Amsterdam and recently the catalogue for Hermes at the Villa Poiret Mallet-Stevens at ADAGP in Paris.