A selection of free PDF's to read online.

Writing by John Coplans from the Artforum years, Exhibition Catalogues, & Art in America, 1966—1995

John Coplans wrote critical essays on a number of important American male artists of the 20th Century; a number of these writings were from exhibition catalogues of shows that Coplans had himself curated, and others were scholarly essays published in art magazines and periodicals. These collected essays are included in the 1996 anthology, "Provocations." Due to the limited availability of the book, which is out of print, selected PDF versions of essays are available to read below, along with excerpts from the texts. Additional essays are available by contacting the Trust. All texts are copyright of the John Coplans Trust.

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"American Painting and Pop Art," by John Coplans, 1963

"The subject matter most common to Pop Art is for the most part drawn from those aspects of American life which have traditionally been a source of dismay to American intellectuals, and a source of that glib derision of "American culture" so common among Europeans: the comic strip, mass-media advertising, and Hollywood."

"Serial Imagery: Definition," By John Coplans, 1968

"Serial Imagery is particularly fitted to reflect its contemporary environment, because of the open and unplanned nature of its internal dialogue, its highly systematic yet flexible process of production, its high degree of specialization, and its narrow, deep focus on a single issue. Its redundancy is a positive act that continually reaffirms the power and continuity of the creative process."

"Andy Warhol: The Art," by John Coplans, 1970

"...Warhol has a very special capacity to select images, which, when presented in a painterly context, associationally press upon the nerve-ends of our daily existence."

"Fragments According to Johns: an Interview With Jasper Johns," by John Coplans, 1972

"In the following interview, Jasper Johns discusses his lithographic series 'Fragment — According to What,' made at Gemini G.E.L. in 1971. The interview took place in Los Angeles in 1971."

"C. E. Watkins at Yosemite," by John Coplans, 1978

"Though there are very religious feelings apparent in Watkins' approach to nature, his pantheistic outlook is devoid of threat, danger. or anxiety. Yosemite is revealed as Edenic...With Watkins, the traditional theatrical effects of the sublime, so dependent on ephemeral surface phenomena of nature for mood, are exchanged for straightforward perceptions of the wilderness and its wealth of details that are articulate in themselves."

"Brancusi as Photographer," by John Coplans, 1980

"In contrast to painting, sculpture is a medium crucially affected by light, the palpability, intensity and location of which irradiates sculptural form to reveal and define mass, contour, surface, color, and even mood. The expressive appearance of a sculpture can be radically altered by changes in light."

"The Private Eye of Philip Guston," by John Coplans, 1980

"Guston persistently and unwittingly haunts himself and us by turning harmless household appurtenances—doorknobs, hatracks, chairs—into ominous portents. Guston is rarely able to outwit himself. Pulling a concealed trap in the floor, he gleefully tumbles a pile of excrescences back into the void."

"To My Son Joseph," a letter by John Coplans, 1995

"Take [my] ashes and break them up into a number of little piles and package them somewhat like drug dealers do with grams of coke."