PAUL CUPIDO
URSA MAJOR (SIGNED)
Self-Published, 2024
Book size 24 x 17 cm
158 pages
Language English
Hardcover
First edition of 500 copies
Signed by the artist
“During a pilgrimage between Tokyo and Abashiri on the island of Hokkaido, I discovered the Zen concept of “Mu”, which expresses a notion of emptiness often associated, in the West, with something negative. Yet it's full of potential, as emptiness is a gateway to creation.
For Paul Cupido, the Moon is an existential symbol. It entangles man in the infinitely small, while at the same time, through his secret nothingness, it connects him to the infinitely great, guiding ship captains and dreamers through the night. In Ursa Major - the Latin name for the Big Dipper - the star's reflections become a lifeline in the heart of darkness: the photographer imagines a hallucinatory, punk story set on the island of Miyakojima, Okinawa, regularly hit by storms and typhoons. In the dark night of a post-apocalyptic setting where concrete reigns, a couple ventures outside. The shadow of the demons from Kaneto Shindô's cult film Onibaba looms as darkness takes over the paradisiacal beaches, tropical blue seas and sugarcane fields as far as the eye can see.
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"During a pilgrimage between Tokyo and Abashiri on the island of Hokkaido, I discovered the Zen concept of "Mu" which expresses a notion of emptiness, often associated, in the West, with something negative. However, it is full of potential because stripping away is a door to creation."
For Paul Cupido, the Moon is an existential symbol. It curls up man in the infinitely small at the same time as it connects him, through this nothingness of which it holds the secret, to the infinitely large, guiding the captains of ships and all dreamers through the night. In Ursa Major — the Latin name for the Great Bear — the reflections of the star become a lifeline in the heart of darkness: the photographer imagines a hallucinatory and punk story that takes place on the island of Miyakojima, in Okinawa, regularly hit by storms and typhoons. In the dark night of a post-apocalyptic setting where concrete reigns, a couple ventures outside. The shadow of the demons of Onibaba, a cult film by Kaneto Shindô, hovers as darkness takes over the heavenly beaches, the tropical blue seas and the sugar cane fields as far as the eye can see.