Info


Yan Copelli is a painter and sculptor born in Rio de Janeiro in 1986 who currently lives and works in São Paulo.

His works look at an ontological perspective of objects based on hybrid drawings that blend hands, feet and other human body parts with things that are thrown away, such as banana skins, socks with holes in, flip flops, and wilted petals, creating tension between ideas of production and utility in order to shake up hierarchies of value.

These drawings serve to orient his paintings and sculptures, creating a universe in which the objects that remain on the ground, at the height of our feet, become protagonists and form new possibilities of existence. Made from oil paint and sand, his sculptures give us the feeling that they might dissolve at any moment — like a fragile object or even an undefined image from a dream, revealed at times as a painting, and at others as a sculpture. The artist also uses materials such as ceramics and bronze to produce his works.


EDUCATION

2009-2012
BA - Industrial design (Graphic Design department)  at University Center of the City of Rio de Janeiro (UniverCidade), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil


SOLO AND DOUBLE EXHIBITIONS 

2023
Cosmic slop slop  (curated by Ricardo Sardenberg), Projeto Vênus - São Paulo, Brazil

2022
“Sapateado” - Duo Exhibition with Allan Gandhi, Acervo - São Paulo, Brazil

2021
“Baba na fronha” (curated by Ricardo Sardenberg), Projeto Vênus - São Paulo, Brazil

How I Feel (curated by Mama Like) - Duo Exhibition with Ivana De Vivanco, 208 Bowery - New York, United States

2018
A forma das Coisas, Espaço.CC - São Paulo, Brasil


GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2023
“Fundo falso”, Acrilar - São Paulo, Brazil

2022

Entrepanos (curated by Ricardo Ribenboim e Rachel Vallego), Casa Fiat de Cultura - Belo Horizonte, Brazil

Entranha estranha (curated by Guilherme Teixeira), Espaço mini lounge - São Paulo, Brazil

Visions of paradise (curated by Ricardo Sardenberg), The Boiler Room project - Galeria Jaqueline Martins - Brussels, Belgium

Apocalypse now: são tantos apocalipses  (curated by Rafael Bqueer e Ricardo Sardenberg ), Projeto Vênus - São Paulo, Brazil

2021
A Máquina Lírica (curated by Pollyana Quintella), Luisa Strina Gallery - São Paulo, Brazil

Chat Cube (curated by Rudá Cabral), Homeostasis (https://homeostasislab.org/) - online exhibition

Aragem, Anita Schwarts Gallery - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Futuração (curated by Lucas Albuquerque) , Aymoré Gallery - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

2020
Monster High group show - online exhibition 

Ao ar, livre (curated by Tiago de Abreu Pinto) - online exhibition

Nine out of ten (curated by Ricardo Sardenberg) - online exhibition

Fog Machine (curated by Nelly Ben Hayoun), part of the University of the Underground research program in Amsterdam, The Netherlands - online exhibition

Art in Isolation, North Dakota Museum of Art - North Dakota, US  

Ressetar (curated by Duilio Ferronato), Diversity Museum - São Paulo, Brazil

Abre Alas (curated by Keyna Eleison, Pablo de La Barra e Yhuri Cruz ), A Gentil carioca - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

2019
A menina mais feia da turma, Ateliê 397 - São Paulo, Brazil

Antes Tarde Duke Nukem, Deactivated Hospital - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Parabéns (curated by Guilherme Teixeira), Tingua building mezzanine - São Paulo, Brazil

FESTIVAU DE C4NN3$ - sem anos de história, Lona gallery - São Paulo, Brazil

Abraço coletivo (curated by Paula Borghi), Ateliê397 - São Paulo, Brazil

A Casa Da Galerista (curated by Maria Monteiro) , Copan - São Paulo, Brazil  

Corpo além do corpo (curated by Carollina Lauriano) , Ponder - São Paulo, Brazil

The Others (curated by Tokio galeria), Brasil Perú Cultural Center - Lima, Peru

No Borders, Miscelanea Bcn - Barcelona, Spain

Salad days, Young Space winter online exhibition (curated by Kate Mothes)

2016
Conversão (curated by Carlos Issa e Ana Helena Tokutake), Sé gallery - São Paulo, Brazil

2015
Altplana (curated by Bia Bittencourt), Elevado - São Paulo, Brazil

2013
Laço, Paço das Artes - São Paulo, Brazil

2012
Tattoo the Girl, Mutuo Centro de Arte - Barcelona, Spain

2011
Ofício Coletivo, Public Archive of the State of Rio Grande do Sul - Porto Alegre, Brazil

2010
Parede 2010, International Poster Art Festival, Federal Justice Cultural Center - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

2010
Mental Mazes (curated by Ryan de la Hoz), Double Punch gallery, San Francisco - CA, US


RESIDENCIES

2020
Olhão web residency program / June

University of The Underground - research bureau “If I can’t dance I don’t want to be part of your revolution - Amsterdam - Tbilisi / April - June

PUBLICATIONS

2021
ArtMaze Magazine - issue 22

2015
Faq Magazine - Issue 9