Jakob Kopp

His View of Art

The following texts were published on his website during his lifetime and were written in his name. We have left them unchanged apart from a few spelling corrections. This is a translation of the German original.

Dear visitor to this website, one day I came into the world without having been asked. Since then I have been living life, my unasked-for life, without ever having questioned it. God wanted me to be born, and I am grateful to this God – in whatever shape and form he may exist – for that.

The idea of life and the notion of a Creator God are fascinating to me. Life is wonderful!

Being an artist is not something you have to learn; you simply carry this special feeling for life within you. I created this website in order to present to you my passion for working as a free artist.

Art

Can one be a free artist if, in one’s own innermost depths, one does not feel free, if one is imprisoned within oneself? Are we not all, in more or less different ways, imprisoned within ourselves? My answer to this is:

“Art exists to free us from our inner captivity.”

Art gives us the possibility of finding a way through the complex world of feelings and of human existence, and of making the connection of meaning in all things comprehensible in different ways through our own imagination.

Metaphysical phenomena – unlike in the classical methods of explanation – are accessible not through individual empirical investigations, but through artistic gifts of empathy, insights and abilities. The technique this requires and the “tools” it needs are something anyone can teach themselves, regardless of whether, on this path, one decides on painting, music, poetry or, say, sculpture.

Path

I saw and found my way of expressing my feelings through the imagination in painting. One person composes music, another writes a book or composes poems: I paint my pictures!

Even as a child I could be thrilled by the sight of a white sheet of paper or a fresh canvas. And even the penetrating smell of fresh paint only lent my imagination further wings. The prospect of filling the white, still empty surface with something taken from my life, springing from my imagination or giving shape to my dreams is, for me, an immense fascination, an elixir of life that never runs dry.

Freedom

And yet, despite my artistic passion, I never at any point wanted to make art my profession, since I could not live up to the demand of satisfying the human longing for refined, artistic beauty as a way of earning a living.

Artists who depend on the financial proceeds of their art are a symptom and a result of the modern art market, on which money is declared the measure of all things and art an investment.

Freedom of Art

Is art, then, merely a craft to be measured in working hours? – I am convinced that art is inseparably bound up with the spirit and the soul and offers the possibility of a “different way of seeing” that cannot be grasped in a materialistic manner. Every work of art reveals an echo of the creator, a breath of the artist’s soul, and cannot conceivably be reduced to its material value.

Media

In my free time – quite apart from my profession – I give free rein to my passion for painting, work with acrylic or oil and draw with drawing tools of every kind. I also enjoy trying out and learning new techniques, for as soon as the spark of a new technique – that is, of a further way to express myself creatively – catches me, I quickly become “fired up” by it.

Drawing, the drawing itself, has always been an important medium and field of activity for me. To try myself out in it, I take every opportunity: portrait drawing and life drawing in Volkshochschule (adult education) courses, at the Kunstakademie Münster and among friends. Drawing face to face with the human model is a special stimulus for me and enriches my figurative painting, since it is above all through drawing that I learn the technique of momentary, precise seeing and so sharpen my eye for the small, special detail.

Inspiration

At this point I would like to single out Gunda Scheel, Martina Meyer-Heil and Ruth Bisping as my mentors and teachers. Working together with them and with other artists in workshops and groups is for me an invaluable source of new inspiration.

As a free artist, in 2007 I sought and found my refuge in a studio of the “Am Hawerkamp 31” studio community in Münster, which since then I have opened twice a year – during the “Open Studio Days” in spring and autumn – to visitors who love art or are curious about it. I always feel this regular opening and presentation of my artistic sanctuary and my pictures to be a wonderful opportunity to experience at first hand the direct effect of art on people, because: my inspiration is the human being!

A warm welcome to my world!