01 december 2023, Wouter van den Eijkel
Popel Coumou: maximum results with minimal means
The seventh solo exhibition by Popel Coumou at Torch Gallery is simply entitled Popel. A concise title befitting an exhibition showcasing the work of someone who requires little more than scissors, paper and light. In Popel, Coumou utilised the gallery space as part of the presentation. She also recently ventured into three-dimensional collages with plexiglass and has a number of photographic works available for purchase.
"The brain needs very little to see something because it wants to categorise and recognise," says Popel Coumou, pointing to a small collage of a chair. From a distance, you see a complete chair with a backrest, but up close, you realise the back is not complete—the upper rib is missing. Coumou achieves an optical illusion with minimal means and interventions, focusing primarily on the suggestion of depth.
Popel Coumou, 197. untitled, 2023, TORCH Gallery
Artistic joy
Some artists infuse their work with a political message or start with a concept. This is not the case with Coumou. Her visual language harks back to architecture, particularly the clean lines of Modernism, but her creative process is more playful than the result suggests. Her focus is on the joy of creation, exploring side paths, surprising herself and experimenting. "I wouldn't have made any of the work you see here today if I hadn't given myself the freedom to play and try everything within my reach," she explains. Her experimentation occurs within the form of collage, with photography as the starting point. Each step in her development seems logical, yet develops quite casually.
Coumou studied photography at the Rietveld Academy, but she missed the physical act of creating work. In 2003, a year before graduating, she began crafting small clay sculptures, which led to two-dimensional collages. She then illuminated and photographed them, giving the collages a third dimension in the photos.
Popel Coumou, 168. untitled, 2023, TORCH Gallery
Plexiglass
The most significant change in her work in recent years occurred somewhat by chance. In 2018, she devised a way to eliminate those final steps, inspired by the beautiful colour palette of the sky during a previous project on horizons. All the imagery she has since incorporated into her collages originates from holiday and other photos of skies, displaying a wide range of colours, ranging from yellow to purple and brown to bright blue. Coumou collects them digitally and prints them when needed, embedding the light and its variations directly into the collages.
The new series of three-dimensional collages with diffuse plexiglass emerged from earlier work made using similar materials. Coumou had created reliefs from chalk paper and foam, but framing the first material proved challenging. Earlier this year, she decided to find a material with the same light transmittance as chalk paper, leading her to plexiglass. "I thought, I'm just going to do it. I had no exhibitions planned and I had to see the result at least once."
She constructed her collages from layers of the sheet material with photos of skies underneath. When viewed straight on, the works have very soft colours in normal light. In brighter light, they appear whiter and from the side, the colours fade, revealing an abstract interplay of lines.
Popel Coumou, 181. untitled, 2023, TORCH Gallery
Popel
Popel is Coumou's first gallery exhibition in which the floor and walls of the gallery are integral parts of the display. In preparation for the exhibition, Coumou spent several evenings with a flashlight in a dark gallery, exploring how light moves through the space. The result is walls and floors that are partly midnight blue. Again, flat surfaces suggest depth and space that do not actually exist.
The idea of making the gallery space part of the presentation developed while preparing for Coumou's exhibition at the Photomuseum Den Haag in 2020. Former curator Wim van Sinderen asked her to do more than just hang photos. Coumou photographed the room and created collages, prompting Van Sinderen to suggest that she create them in the exhibition. "A whole new world opened up for me. What I built in scale models could suddenly be created in the actual space."
Having an exhibition at the Hague Photomuseum wasn't entirely coincidental. Coumou's visual language traces back to modernist architecture and the adjacent Kunstmuseum is one of H.P. Berlage's most famous designs. Coumou's lines are always precise, but unlike a blueprint of a modernist building, her work allows for small imperfections. It is evident that everything is hand-cut and trimmed, making Coumou's work human and never entirely perfect.
"Our brains don't really care if something is imperfect. But if you look long enough, you suddenly notice that some things don't add up. That gives the work extra character." Another difference from modernism is that while the architectural movement approached the future with optimism, Coumou's palette is more melancholic, a kind of cut-out saudade.
Popel is on display until 23 December at Torch Gallery in Amsterdam. On Saturday 9 December 4-5PM, Popel Coumou will be holding an artist talk at the gallery. RSVP via [email protected].
Popel, TORCH Gallery
