If you are an artist, then you have no doubt copied the work of others. This copying can range from using pages from a magazine in collage, adopting the style of an artist, or simply being inspired by the work of an artist. This natural process of copying, taught to us at every stage of our artistic development, is burdened by a very complex and messy set of laws and social conventions which define and limit how we can use copying within our practices. These don’t take into account exceptions or nuances, and come from a historical world where artworks were scarce physical objects, and don’t translate well into a world where culture is abundant and can be accessed and copied at will.

Being an artist who copies is to be an artist working in this murky grey area of right and wrong.

For those artists, I have curated Copy Paste. This exhibition features the work of nine artists and art collectives who all incorporate copying as a core aspect of their work. Taking the form of a physical exhibition at Piksel in Norway, an online exhibition, and an event series, the exhibition aims to show that copying is natural.

Exhibiting artists: Carol Breen, Constant, LoVid, Lorna Mills, Matthew Plummer-Fernandez + Julien Deswaef, Duncan Poulton, Eric Schrijver, Peter Sunde.

There will be a few events happening throughout the exhibition, taking place online and IRL at Piksel’s studio in Norway. More details of that will follow here and on Piksel’s website. Thanks so much to Piksel for the invitation to curate this exhibition 🙂