REMEMBERING YOU – PAUL CUPIDO: AMSTERDAM
Past exhibition
1 September - 19 November 2022
The solo exhibition REMEMBERING YOU presents the latest works by Dutch artist Paul Cupido, who deals with memory, loss and hope – with feelings that are familiar to everyone. The loss of a loved one may be immeasurable, but one thing is never lost: the time spent together. Memories survive along with the certainty that shared moments cannot be taken away. The feeling of missing someone also arouses a feeling of gratitude. It is a multi-layered feeling that can be both painful and comforting. It may already be experienced as a child; it is a primal feeling that creates an awareness of the transience of life and also a sense of our mutual connectedness. Cupido’s camera is more than a tool; he uses it to capture the ephemeral, to experience the world and visualize his view of outside and inside.
The medium of photography offers Cupido the opportunity to confront himself and connect with the world. Photography as a form of inner healing is made manifest in his conceptual series of ginkgo leaves, photographed in memory of persons. The plant captivates the artist not only for its aesthetic appeal but also as a symbol of longevity. He captures his thoughts about people in images that become enduring memories that defy forgetting. The artist has photographed more than 200 ginkgo leaves to date.
Another recurring element in Cupido’s work is the human body as part of nature. He addresses not only the vulnerability and inevitable transience of life but above all its strength, power and wholeness, so much so that his pictures never seem sad, for they are informed with the beauty and richness of life.
Cupido connects the material with the immaterial and refers to the sublime. His predominantly black-and-white works are timeless. The choice of high quality, durable printing technique matches the content of his works.