Copia [Copy]

Paulo Bruscky is best known as a pioneer of Mail art, participating from his home town of Recife, Brazil, in the correspondence pf international artistic groups like FLUXUS. Some of his works revolve around the technique of photocopying (or Xerox). The work “Copy” consists of a photograph of Bruscky holding a photo of his face over his actual face, which is then photocopied and stamped with the word “Copy.” The layers of copying obscure the “real” Bruscky, suggesting the absence of the “original.” This playful procedure is echoed in Bruscky’s work across artistic media formats. Influenced by his lifelong career in hospital administration, Bruscky also explored biological themes and their relationship to humor and visual art. Bruscky’s artistic flexibility was in part a result of cultural and political repression imposed by the military dictatorship in control of Brazil from 1964 to 1985, solidifying his resolve to create art that challenged the status quo and caused viewers to rethink the rules of the everyday.