Matt Copson

Bold new video works by five artists of the moment living or working in London will take over the world’s largest public screens this July in London, Seoul and Tokyo. Curated by Sir Norman Rosenthal, ‘LONDON ZEITGEIST’ comprised of five independent films by Larry Achiampong, Alvaro Barrington, Matt Copson, artist duo Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings, together forming a bold and comprehensive showcase of the most promising artists within a generation to emerge from London. 

This group exhibition adopts its title from Rosenthal’s 1982 exhibition ‘Zeitgeist’ that was held in Berlin’s Martin-Gropius-Bau almost forty years ago, and which was arguably one of the most historically significant global painting surveys of the 20th century, bringing together 45 of the world’s most driven and symbolically heroic artists of the moment. Rosenthal’s unwavering commitment and capacity to embolden the great talent of the time has become a defining characteristic of his career. In 1981, Rosenthal introduced artists such as Baselitz, Kiefer, Polke and Richter to an audience beyond Germany in ‘A New Spirit In Painting’ and helped launch the careers of  Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, Sarah Lucas and many others with ‘Sensation’ in 1997 at the Royal Academy of Art in London:

“That complex German word “Zeitgeist” (Time/Spirit) that more and more has entered the English language – just like “Kindergarten” once did (!) – naturally relates to place as well as time. Each of the four young artists chosen I believe address these issues subjectively, inevitably, sometimes obliquely, yet each in a “Spectacular” and “Beautiful” way onto the iconic Piccadilly Lights screen. They then are transmitted to the other side of the globe. They are pictures both of issues and fantasies that obsess four individual artists living and working in London, forever a huge urban national centre, and that hopefully too will touch audiences around the world.” – Sir Norman Rosenthal

For CIRCA I will show an animation of a gargoyle jutting out from the wall of LEDs, tongue outstretched, dripping water from its mouth, eyes scowling. Occasionally it coughs up junk (M&Ms, milk, coins, roaches) and spits them out like a cat would a hairball. The background is pure black, as if the gargoyle is jutting out from the nearby architecture.

Matt Copson (b. 1992, Oxford) studied at the Slade School of Fine Art, and lives and works in London, England. Recent exhibitions include Coming of Age, High Art, Paris, France, 2020; Gred, Blorange, Yeluple, Swiss Institute, New York, USA, 2019; Down boy, Reena Spaulings Fine Art, New York, USA, 2019; Matt Copson, Mönchehaus Museum, Gosler, Germany, 2018; Blorange, Louis Vuitton Foundation, Paris, France, 2018; Eggy and Seedy (with Alastair Mackinven), Reading International, England, 2017; Sob Story, High Art, Paris, France, 2016; A Woodland Truce, Serpentine Sackler Gallery, London, England, 2016.