If visitors to the Stedelijk Museum
of Modern Art in Amsterdam are at first unaware that Dennis Hopper
has been an American film actor, director and screenwriter for the
last 45 years, they will soon find out. Many are probably seeing
the exhibition, Dennis Hopper: A Keen Eye, a fascinating
blend of photographs, paintings, films, sculpture, constructions
and collages, because he's famous. Hopper's fame gets
them in the door but does he deliver? He does,
indeed.
You can't separate Hopper the actor from Hopper the painter or photographer. A good writer pens what he knows. Hopper knows the film world and his art is a reaction to it. His art constantly reminds us that an ‘image' is an illusion.
An example of this is his photograph taken from directly behind the actual movie camera as it films actors John Wayne and Dean Martin on horseback on the set of the western film The Sons of Katie Elder. The photo frames the huge spidery X created by the legs of the filming camera's tripod, separating the photo's subjects and almost declaring them ‘null and void'. Hopper exposes the act of movie making to us to show that these aren't two cowboys in the Wild West; they are two middle-aged over-paid actors.
Luridly Large
Last year Hopper deftly
painted vast colour cinema-screen-sized oil-on-vinyl versions of
his early 1960's black and white photographs of advertising
billboards in Los Angeles. In the process Hopper has revealed
the original billboards, which were supposed to be ‘pleasant
and attractive', as hard, lurid and crass.
His luxuriously textured ilfocolor prints initially fool the eye. These gorgeously detailed prints are actual photos of bashed, scarred concrete walls, peeling paint and tired graffiti. With his artist's eye, Hopper has seen the richness in what most would ignore and find ugly, on the streets of the town that is know for its worship of surface beauty.
Again we can't get away from Hopper in Hollywood as one whole hall of the exhibition is devoted to his film work. You can watch his celebrated film ‘Easy Rider' (a film that shocked in 1969 because it really forced viewers to look at the world) and other smaller ‘art' films. Tellingly, in the same room is a meticulously lettered pop poster with the quote: "I'm trying to reject the old concept that what is appearing up there on the screen is our reality."
Pop as in ‘Popular'
Hopper is
influenced by the ‘pop art' of his contemporaries such as,
Andy Warhol and Claes Oldenburg; artists that made us look at
familiar items as art objects. The term ‘pop' comes
from the word, ‘popular' so it is indeed appropriate that
Hopper, a familiar image to millions the world over, is himself a
practitioner of pop art. Like Warhol (who expounded that everyone
would be famous for 15 minutes), Hopper (who has certainly
exceeded this fame time-frame), has an expert eye for seeing
special qualities in advertising, package design, and ‘found
art'. One of the most moving pieces in the exhibition is an old
peeling hotel sign, (painted by a forgotten graphic artist), that
Hopper has lovingly framed and preserved.
Don't think that this exhibition has countless images of a
self-adoring Hopper. You see what he sees but you hardly see him at
all (except in one photo and in the films.) And, to me, that's
reason to take him more seriously. Keeping in mind that the
art on view was created at the same time Hopper was acting
in Hollywood; his first exhibition was as early as 1961 (he's had a
large number of them since all over the world); and most of the
pieces on display are from his own collection (he hasn't created
the art solely for monetary gain); one would have to admit that
Hopper is a serious artist well above amateur status.
I'm sure Hopper wishes to be appreciated as an artist, full stop. But his renown as a film performer will always influence any analysis of his painting or photography. His fame may have lured visitors to this exhibition but his not-so-famous art will hold their interest. If not, there are many other works of art on view at the Stedelijk Museum (including Around Hopper-American Artists from the Collection) and if the name, Dennis Hopper coaxed them in the door…Mission accomplished!
- The exhibition, Dennis Hopper: A Keen
Eye is on view at
Amsterdam's Stedelijk Museum until 16 April 2001.Links
Tags: culture, English, exhibitions, Holland, language, museums, The Netherlands