William N. Copley

William N. Copley (1919-1996) had his own gallery, in which he presented such prominent representatives of Surrealism as René Magritte, Max Ernst, Yves Tanguy, Joseph Cornell, and Man Ray, before deciding, in 1947, to become a painter himself. He moved to Paris, where he developed his own unmistakable style and discovered his own themes. His subversively vapid works are still considered the connecting link between Pop Art and Surrealism. This monograph shows Copley's extremely abstracted figurines from everyday American myths, his cowboys and pin-up girls, his erotic and pornographic fantasies, in addition to set pieces from everyday life and fetishes that are catalogued without commentary. The two-time Documenta participant adhered to his comic-like style, undeterred until his death, and he is now considered a forerunner of the graffiti art of the likes of Keith Haring. (German edition ISBN 978-3-7757-2406-7)Exhibition schedule: Galerie Klaus Gerrit Friese, Stuttgart, May 15-July 17, 2009