Imaginary Game William N. Copley & Ambra Durante The double exhibition “Imaginary Game” brings together William N. Copley (1919–1996) and Ambra Durante (*2000), two self-taught artists from different generations who draw their pictorial themes directly from their own experiences. Copley, whose work has been exhibited continuously by Galerie Friese for over twenty years, is connected to European Surrealism in terms of content—not least because of his close friendships with Marcel Duchamp, René Magritte, and Max Ernst. At the same time, his visual language bears unmistakable traces of American Pop Art and is considered its precursor. In his narrative compositions, Copley revolves around sexual desire and its moral implications in postwar American society. With subtle wit, he depicts the relationship between men and women as a structure of role-playing and projection—marked by a constant desire to upset the status quo. Ambra Durante, born in Genoa in 2000 and living in Berlin since 2007, expands this imaginary playing field with an introspective, contemporary perspective. Her picture stories tell of inner experiences; they deal with loneliness, loss, desire, and self-assertion. She became known for her book Black Box Blues, published by Wallstein Verlag in 2020—a narrative in images and text about grief and the possibility of continuing life. Durante draws on everything she has at her disposal: canvas, found papers, shopping bags, shooting cards. The material becomes a co-player—tears, creases, and imprints become an integral part of the work. In the exhibition, she shows new works on paper that feature increasingly surreal elements in both style and content. Images and words conquer the pictorial space, advancing light-footedly and quickly, fleeting like thoughts. Their intensity testifies to the experiences of a young generation that is searching, asserting itself, and redefining itself. “Imaginary Game” brings together two artistic positions that, despite a time gap of eight decades, are connected by a remarkable closeness: a belief in the power of imagination, a love of storytelling, and a conception of art as a protected space for experience.