“I aim to engage with the world with wide-open senses. My work is about the magic moments of life as well as its inconveniences… Through photography, I learned to see and accept the true beauty of the essence of life.”
Paul Cupido’s (b.1972. The Netherlands) photographic practice centres around the search for beauty in the ephemerality of life. His affinity for the natural world was initially born out of a childhood spent on the island of Terschelling, Netherlands, and informed his interest in reflecting the impermanence and fleetingness of life through the changing seasons, the ebb and flow of tides, and the cycles of the moon.
The influence of Japanese art and philosophical principles – especially that of ‘mu’ permeates Cupido’s creative practice. An important concept in Zen tradition and Buddhist teaching, the term mu in Japanese translates loosely as “have not” or “without”. Advocates propose it as a way of breaking through the ‘conceptual fog’ that can get in the way of true experience or enlightenment.
Interwoven processes of searching and making constitute his versatile approach to photography and other media. He favours analogue printing, where simple techniques such as water droplets and flares can be employed in the darkroom to achieve abstract effects, and close attention is paid to the quality of the papers used.
Since graduating with honours from the Fotoacademie Amsterdam in 2017 Cupido’s work has been exhibited widely internationally, among others at Paris Photo, Unseen, and Nordic Light Festival. He has also published a number of books; including the artist’s publications Searching for Mu (2017) and Contiuum (2019) in collaboration with graphic designer Akiko Wakabayashi.
Limited edition prints are available from £1,050 + VAT. Please get in touch for more information: printsales@tpg.org.uk / +44 (0)20 70879300
Visit us : The Photographers' Gallery, 16–18 Ramillies Street, London, W1F 7LW