“Hard Copy New York” Platforms the Photocopied Picture – SURFACE

Developed by artist and creator Aaron Stern, the group exhibition “Hard Copy New York” on the International Center of Photography (ICP) interprets work from a various array of image-makers by photocopy know-how. Stern curated the exhibition with David Campany, the artistic director of ICP, tapping into the repertoire of expertise corresponding to Takashi Homma, Collier Schorr, Stephen Shore, and Gray Sorrenti. Each photocopy is an interpretation of the unique artwork items—one which calls into query course of, commercialization, possession, and even the democratization of artwork.

Though that is Stern’s first museum present curation, it isn’t the primary time he has explored the magnetism of the degraded photocopy aesthetic. Stern has taken the “Hard Copy” idea from WSA in 2024 to Webber Gallery Los Angeles in 2025. It additionally exists in zine kind. Though curation adjustments, his course of stays the identical—photocopying contributions from artists, then scanning the photocopy, and generally scaling it up digitally. To be taught extra about this iteration’s creative illustration, from Sorrenti’s 51-foot-long autobiographical mural to Homma’s Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji collection, we spoke with Stern prematurely of the exhibition, which is ready to run by May 4.

This exhibition brings collectively artists whose practices span abstraction, documentary, vogue, and conceptual pictures. When you have been assembling the checklist, what decided inclusion?

It began with intuition. Some technical. Some private. I’ve been working with different printing strategies for over a decade. I can inform what photos will render finest with the Xerox machine. Shared perspective additionally. And there’s a mind-set. About copy. Authorship, circulation. David and I stored among the unique artists. Expanded it with new ones.

In late 2023 Gray Sorrenti and I stored operating into one another. I used to be within the early planning levels of the primary “Hard Copy.” Sat subsequent to her at Bar Pitti one evening. She leaned over and mentioned “I keep seeing you. What do you do?” Coincidentally she had a guide in thoughts: 10 years of her intentional FaceTime portraits. Almost in unison we mentioned, “but printed Xerox.” We began utilizing native copy machines. But she hunted down one Tom Sachs tipped us off to. Changed every little thing. Having the right machine in my studio. To experiment endlessly.

The first artist I reached out to was Thomas Ruff. Specifically the Nudes collection. Ruff took jpegs off porn web sites within the ‘90s. Repurposed them. Reappropriated them. Finally making large C-prints for the end result. Me xeroxing them couldn’t be a extra good factor that matches into what I’m attempting to perform. A closing of a circle. Another layer of repurposing. Other artists like Ari Marcopoulos and Collier Schorr have labored with photocopy for years. So that felt natural. Daniel Arnold and Jerry Hsu’s photos are visceral, speedy. Easily lend themselves to the punk nature of what Xerox does to a picture. I needed to make one thing tactile, alive, possibly somewhat unstable.

What does the photocopy mean you can do—curatorially or conceptually—{that a} conventional print or digital presentation doesn’t? Has your relationship to the method modified for the reason that first model of the present?

It makes all of it really feel a bit much less valuable. Yea there’s a degradation of the image. But I feel the photographs David and I selected—there’s extra of a resurrection. Loads of photos look higher to me as a photocopy. It’s humorous the method of copying one thing that already existed feels more true to how we have interaction with photos now. Fast, disposable, scrolling. Maybe in a room, printed on a wall you gotta confront that disposability another way.

Curatorially, the photocopy provides me license to indicate work in a means that’s extra bodily, speedy. I like that it permits for errors. I can print it super-large for little or no cash comparatively. Just a little off-register. Breaks down hierarchies between genres. Emerging and established artists. Between what’s possibly seen as vital and what simply hits you. And the liberty of cheap repetition. You can’t get that with an costly C-print.

The course of hasn’t modified. The course of is what retains me engaged in it although. Not simply the bodily facets. Print, photocopy, scan, print massive. But the outreach to the artists. Conceptualizing the set up. Sharing the experimentations collectively.

“Hard Copy” has now lived in several contexts. What did New York—and ICP particularly—make doable that wasn’t out there in earlier variations of the exhibition?

ICP helped elevate the exhibition. The course of was way more streamlined. I’ve a workforce behind me. A star co-curator in David Campany. Who has limitless, invaluable expertise that calms my nerves. The final two iterations I used to be a one man present. In curation, manufacturing, set up, promotion. The presentation for this exhibition is extra refined, thought out.

ICP made legacy doable. It’s New York. My hometown. The most vital artwork metropolis. In my opinion. I hope this iteration feels extra expansive and exact. Maybe in earlier variations I needed to clarify the usage of the photocopy printing technique for a present. I don’t really feel that means this time round.

You’ve talked about that this present is the primary museum exhibition you’ve curated. Did that site-specific context inform your strategy to scale, permanence, or duty when it got here to “Hard Copy New York?”

Absolutely. It’s one factor to placed on a present in a gallery like Webber or uncooked exhibition area like WSA. Embrace the rawness of it. Which felt becoming for “Hard Copy.” ICP brings a little bit of gravity. A permanence as a result of it’s an establishment. Even if the present is momentary. I assumed concerning the particulars extra. But principally it acquired me eager about what it might result in subsequent. Which is at all times what my most outstanding thought is. What I care about most. I need this present to journey once more. But I hope that different establishments and galleries might be interested in what different concepts I’ve for exhibitions as nicely.

You transfer between making photos and organizing them—typically in business, editorial, and institutional contexts. When you’re photocopying one other artist’s work for “Hard Copy,” the place do you are feeling most current: as an creator, a technician, or a collaborator?

Collaborator. I like speaking to artists on a regular basis. Before I used to be curating it was with the artists in my life. But now it’s a deeper, extra expansive dialog. And every day. With artists I’ve regarded as much as all through my profession. And curators like David Campany. That is the most effective half for me. I’m acutely aware of it. Because I really feel grateful for it. And I really feel it within the second.

You got here up in vogue and editorial contexts, the place photos are made to maneuver, multiply, and be consumed shortly. How did that background affect your sensitivity to copy and degradation in “Hard Copy?”

I got here up taking photos of my life, associates, bands, New York, Los Angeles. Mid 2000s. I had a photograph diary that was nameless. Made a couple of books. Had a couple of reveals. Led to business work. Mostly portraiture. Taught me that whereas photos are consumed shortly the method of creating them was nonetheless vital. Vogue particularly. The folks I labored with there deeply cared. They have been buttoned up, deliberate, and very good all through. There was a variety of delight within the work. No matter what sort of image you’re making I feel that could be a good perspective to have.