As influences, Steve Cope cites the austere, clean, geometric lines from his New England upbringing as directing him to create simple and clear forms. Initially a landscape painter, Cope watched a blimp hover above the Boston harbor and seized the image as a personal metaphor of distant observation. The artist began incorporating the form of blimps in his work, initially into landscapes, and then into abstraction. The image remains a central element as his work explores the range of simple forms, including circles and spheres.
In his focus on the circle, the subject is open to exploration of implied meaning, applied association by the viewer and the universality of the form. There also exists the formalist concerns of scale, uniformity of the symbol and the relationship within images. The simplicity of the spherical image allows for artistic investigation of line, texture, color and composition. The artist states that his large-scale, multiple sphere works contain “. . . a drama that is unique to urban environments, where physical scale is ones natural experience” where the observer is “engaged by the excess.”
Steve Cope received his B.F.A. from the Massachusetts College of Art and his M.F.A. from the Boston University. He has participated in dozens of group exhibitions and has exhibited solo in several venues, including Boston, New York City and Philadelphia. He has shown his work locally at the Philadelphia Art Alliance and was awarded the 2004 "Challenge 1" at the Fleisher Art Memorial.
In addition to creating his paintings and drawings, Steve has been a teacher of the arts for the past 10 years, most recently at St. Joseph's University.
EDUCATION
1992 MFA Boston University
1986 BFA Massachusetts College of Art
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2007 - Night Watch, Projects Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2004 - Challenge 1, Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA
2002 - Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadelphia, PA
2000 - George Waters Gallery, Elmira College, Elmira, NY
1996 - Z Gallery, NYC
1989, 92, 93 - Eclipse Gallery, Boston, MA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2008 - 60 by 60, Community Art Center, Wallingford, PA
- Melissa Morgan Fine Art, Palm Desert, CA
2007 - Artists in Heat, Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN
- Altered Landscapes, Projects Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
- Red Dot Art Fair, New York City, Projects Gallery
- Bridge Art Fair, Chicago, Projects Gallery
2006 - Small Packages, Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN
- Bridge Art Fair. Projects Gallery, Miami, FL
2005 - Drawing Circles: A Convergence, Hyder Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2004 - Between the Lines, Hyder Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
- Pattern, ADM Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2003 - Searching for the Image, The von Liebig Art Center, Naples, FL
- Searching for the Image, Elliott Gallery, Eckerd College, St. Pertersbug. FL
- Warm, ADM Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2002 - Non-Objective Painting and Sculpture, Art in City Hall Program, Philadelphia, PA
2001 - Abstraction, Wallingford Art Center, Media, PA
- High Impact, William and Mary College, Williamsburg, Virginia
2000 - Painting Abstraction, The New York Studio School, NYC
1999 - Postmasters, NYC
1998 - Small Works. Alan Gallery Berea, Ohio
1997 - Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington DE
1995 - Z Gallery, NYC
1994 - Z Gallery, NYC
1993 - Elements Of Abstraction, Institute of Progressive Art, Boston, MA
- Z Gallery, NYC
1992 - Painting Self-Evident: Evolutions in Abstraction, Gibbs Museum of Art, Piccolo Spoleto Festival, Charleston, SC
1991 - Structures, Bentley College, Waltham, MA
1990 - Perspectives in Prinmaking: Five New England Printmakers, Walters Gallery, Regis College, Weston, MA
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Nashville Scene, August 8, 2007, Artists in Heat by Brittany Conner
- New American Painting, 2007 Mid-Atlantic edition, Open Studios Press (April 2007)
- Philadelphia Weekly, September 15, 2004 , Editors Pick by Roberta Fallon
- The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 17, 2004 , Review by Edward Sozanski
- Searching for the Image , Catalog, March 2003, The von Liebig Art Center, Naples FL Catalog essay by David Cohen
- Searching for the Image, 25 minute Documentary Film produced by Bonnie Grossman and Lucky Duck Productions, March 2003
- St. Petersburg Times , May 22, 2003, Six Artists in Search of an Image by Lennie Bennet
- Review Magazine , June 2000, Painting Abstraction by Robert Morris
- Art New England, June/July 1993, Elements of Abstraction by Charles Giuliano
- Painting Self-Evident: Evolutions in Abstraction, Catalog, Gibbs Museum of Art 1992 Catalog essays by Katherine Porter and Michael Phillips
- Weston Town Crier, December 2, 1990, Five perspectives in Printmaking by Marty Carlock
- The Boston Globe, February 4, 1989 , Artist Production Company by Rebbeca Nemser
TEACHING
2000- Present St. Joseph’s University
2000- Visiting Artist University of Pennsylvania
1998- Visiting Artist Boston University
1994- 2000 The New York Studio School of Painting Drawing and Sculpture
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
- The Renaissance Hotel, Washington D.C.
- The Sovereign Bank, Philadelphia, PA
- Bentley College, Waltham, MA
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
- Health Dialog, Boston, MA
- Atmosphere Inc., Philadelphia, PA
- Spegel Drossner LLP, Philadelphia, PA
- McKissock Hoffman Law, Philadelphia, PA
- Axis Corp, Hamilton, Bermuda
- Hamburg Rubin Mullin Maxwell & Lupin, Philadelphia, PA
- Gap International, Media, PA
- Merrill Lynch, Boston, MA
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