Gerry Kopelow

October 21 - November 20, 2010

Opening reception: Thursday, October 21, 4:00 - 6:00 p.m.
(Gallery 1C03)

Public artist talk: Monday, October 25, 12:30 - 1:30 p.m.
(Manitoba Boardroom, Room 2M70)

Salon Night: Thursday, October 28 at 7:30 p.m.
(Platform Centre for Photographic + Digital Arts, 121-100 Arthur Street)

In a double solo exhibition on campus, The University of Winnipeg will present two distinct bodies of work created by Winnipeg photographer Gerry Kopelow. While Where The Buddha Walked and Forty Years Ago Today are different in subject matter and separated in time by four decades, they are connected as integral moments in Kopelow's artistic career. Forty Years Ago Today consists of black and white shots of Canadian youth culture from 1969-70, taking viewers back to the origins of Kopelow's photographic practice. Capturing spontaneous moments of the youth hippie scene of the day, the emerging photographer worked in the tradition of W. Eugene Smith and Henri Cartier-Bresson. These images will be shown in the University's Hamilton Galleria and Archives, both located in the University's Library.

Kopelow's photographic pursuit of the “decisive moment” in the late-1960s indirectly led him to study Eastern meditational practices and, ultimately, the methods of mental cultivation invented and taught by the historical Buddha. For years, Kopelow has pursued the meditative life that he was introduced to by his meticulous approach to photography. In 2006 and 2007, Kopelow found himself travelling to India to visit historical sites associated with the life of the Buddha: the places where he is said to have been born, achieved his realizations, taught, meditated and died. The results of Kopelow's pilgrimmage are the subjects of the photographs in Where The Buddha Walked, which will be presented at Gallery 1C03.

Gerry Kopelow is an internationally published photographer, author and educator. As an emerging artist in the late-1960s, his photographic work received support from the Canada Council for the Arts and the National Film Board of Canada. Kopelow subsequently established himself as an award winning commercial photographer, producing projects for various corporate, institutional and government clients. His writing and photographs have appeared in professional journals and his books on photography are widely respected as definitive works in the field. He has lectured and delivered workshops at various academic institutions including the University of Florida, The Georgia Institute of Technology, The Pratt Institute and the Harvard Graduate School of Design. He also teaches architectural photography regularly at the Cooper Union in New York. Kopelow's most recent publication is All Our Changes: Images from the Sixties Generation, Photographs by Gerry Kopelow (2009, University of Manitoba Press) and reproduces photographs that will be presented in Forty Years Ago Today. Where The Buddha Walked and Forty Years Ago Today are the first public solo presentations of Kopelow's non-commercial photography in nearly four decades.

Regular Gallery Hours:
Monday - Friday, noon - 4 p.m.
Saturday: 1 - 4 p.m.
Closed Thanksgiving Day, Remembrance Day and Louis Riel Day.

Contact:
Jennifer Gibson
Curator, Gallery 1C03
The University of Winnipeg
515 Portage Avenue
Winnipeg, MB R3B 2E9
Ph: 204.786.9253
F: 204.774.4134
E: j.gibson@uwinnipeg.ca