30 May- 7 July 2002
Thursday-Sunday 12-6pm

Markus Copper has recently emerged as a key figure in the thriving Finnish Contemporary Art scene, winning the Scandinavian Ars Fennica prize in 1999.

The works of Marcus Copper exist as obsolete frameworks still in the throes of functionality. Referencing the building blocks of nature and heavy industrial techniques of the 19th and 20th centuries he creates intricate mechanical assemblages that mix superstition, politics and suppression with visual metaphors for enlightenment, evolution and science.

At Beaconsfield Copper will exhibit “Archangel of Seven Seas” which won him the Ars Fennica Prize and his latest work, “Rose Garten”.

Archangel of Seven Seas is constructed from Church organ pipes, wood and electronics, which combined, form the life-size skeleton of a Whale. Its hand-made aesthetic and obsessive technical complexity creates a formidable presence akin to a historical fantasy. It does not attempt to create an animatronic narrative; it bellows at such tonal depth that the sound waves generated have a transfixing effect. The exposed innards form electronic and pneumatic networks that drive the sub-sonic tones. This complexity and raw spirituality is masked by a simplicity of form.

Rose Garten has been built in Berlin where Copper is currently living. It comprises five large compression barrels that, in sequence, mechanically explore the phenomena of objects breaking the sound barrier.

This is the first solo exhibition of Marcus Copper in England.

Beaconsfield curated RAX, 1996, the first exhibition of Contemporary Finnish Art in the U.K., which premiered work by Eija-Liisa Ahtilla who has a retrospective at Tate Modern that runs parallel to this exhibition in Spring 2002.

Beaconsfield would like to thank the Finnish institute, FRAME, the Ars Fennica Foundation and the Finnish Embassy for their support in realising this project.