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Ccopacatty

The Andean sculptor, Ccopacatty, is a reputed artist in South America and is recognized nationally in the United States for dramatic and monumental works in metal and the wall mural. In the current exhibit we show models for these larger works and his first sculpture in metal, "Earth Mother", done in 1975. His work is exuberant, dynamic, tragic, and structurally stable. The forms grow from his life, in the Andes of Peru; from his ancient culture, the Aymara; from Lago Titicaca, the sacred lake of the Inca and his island birthplace. That place and people are the point of departure in his themes of family, work, struggle and triumph, evolving sculpture and sculptor to the universal distance. He says, " My sculptures have a relationship to time and distance. My work reminds me of my history, my spirit doesn't forget this ancient dimension. As a sculptor, I have this same urgency to connect the past with the future. I am still answering this question. It has to do with a process of investigation, pre-historic stone, modern techniques, unification…".

Ccopacatty's art is dramatic and monumental, notable for his particular ability to define movement. His sense of the dynamic is established in the open construction of his pieces. The drawing clings to the finished work, an element of how the construction began, and an insinuation of tendons, bones, and muscles. In his search he says, "I look for the dynamics of movement and externalize the internal structure of the human form."

Amongst others, dancers and doctors find great joy in his work, the first because he has captured a gesture halfway between one movement and another, the second finds surprise in the accuracy of the human structure, expressively composed beyond the rigid limits of the material. The fluidity achieved in his metal sculpture, comes from Ccopacatty's insistence "…to master technique, to dominate material". He uses the material of technology to sympathize with a humanity victimized by its own discoveries. He hopes in liberating metal to art, in re-use of the discarded, to relate the idea of humanity as its own solution.

Ccopacatty is interested in art as a communication, interested in large-scale art as a way of sharing. The sculpture, the murals and reliefs hold one thread, that of a monumental, heroic, humanity, gathering together in great energy, in a particular moment called art or prophesy.

Ccopacatty attended the National School of Fine Arts in South America and is recognized nationally in the United States. In 1975 he held awards as the most outstanding sculptor in metal and mural. He graduated in 1976 with the "Medalla de Oro", the highest honor in sculpture. He continued his post-graduate studies at the National School of Fine Art. His sculptures are in public and private collections throughout the world. Since his arrival in the United States in 1981 he has exhibited extensively and installed large-scale commissioned sculpture . He has been commissioned to paint large, exterior wall murals nation-wide. Ccopacatty maintains two studios in Rhode Island, one in West Kingston, the other on Block Island, where he also has his gallery. He can be reached at Art Constructions Studio/Gallery, (401) 466-2924 on Block Island. 

                                 
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