About us 
Simon Cooper
While living in Tokyo in the early 90s I was renting a traditional Japanese house with a number of other foreigners. Previously this house had been empty for a number of years and there were some belongings left behind by the previouis occupants which included a number of medical books. As I could not read the Japanese text the anatomical illustrations were completely decontextualised and I viewed them as independant life forms. I began drawing my own creatures in the style of these works and I continue to do so today. They have remained a constant in my continually evolving exploration of altered anatomies.
My practice arises from my interest in the tensions between genetic engineering and natural selection and how these can be articulated through a narrative of relationships. Though object based, my work operates in groups of repetitive colour, scale, form and material to create a context of conformity. At the same time, the contrasts between individual pieces suggest variation within multiple production. As a body my work engages wiht the presence of ancestral evolution, hereditary bloodlines, genetic manipulation, mass replication and reproduction, within contemporary self conception.
Link
http://www32.brinkster.com/scooper65/
Images © Simon Cooper and Match Box Projects
