Posts Tagged ‘photographs’

May

If… Dennis Hopper’s Art & Photography

Posted by: Kenneth Rougeau in Art & Artists, Art History, Painting, Photography

“No other persona better signifies the lost idealism of the 1960s than that of Dennis Hopper“, said film critic Matthew Hays. The actor was best known for his numerous film & filmmaking credits, but he was also enamored with the world of art & poetry, himself an avid & talented photographer, painter, poet and sculptor.

Art Forum 1964 (1988) by Dennis-Hopper

Dennis Hopper - actor, filmmaker & artist

Dennis Hopper‘s impressive film career began with his film debut in the 1955 movie Rebel Without A Cause, starring James Dean, of whom Hopper was an immense fan. Hopper also appeared in the 1956 James Dean film, Giant. The death of James Dean following a tragic automobile accident had a profound impact on the young Hopper, who became distraught & difficult to work with & who is reported to have refused direction for over 80 takes during several days while shooting From Hell To Texas.

Double Standard (1961) by Dennis Hopper

The Grateful Dead (1965) by Dennis Hopper

Ostracized by film studios across Hollywood because of his reputation for being “difficult,” Dennis Hopper turned to photography. He became quite prolific, creating cover art for Ike & Tina Turner, and taking several photos of “people of interest” – musicians, actors, poets, and artists that Hopper thought had the potential to become successful. Noted writer Terry Southern profiled Hopper in Better Homes and Gardens as an up & coming photographer “to watch” in the mid 1960′s.

Roy Lichtenstein (1964) by Dennis Hopper

Jefferson Airplane (1965) by Dennis Hopper

Dennis Hopper encountered a plethora of amazing talents, among them some of the most influential artists of the 20th century, including Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Roy Lichtenstein, Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray and Salvador Dali. Hopper is included among the Andy Warhol‘s famous Screen Tests, a series of silent films created by the artist between 1964 and 1966.

Untitled Tire with Paper Shreds (1988) by Dennis Hopper

After The Fall (1961-1964) by Dennis Hopper

Dennis Hopper, who received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in March of 2010, has also received the rank of commander in France’s Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts and Letters) for his contributions to the arts. He was an avid art collector, as well as an artist, and purchased an original of one of Andy Warhol‘s Campbell’s Soup Cans for $75.00. Hopper recently curated an art show in Taos, New Mexico at the Harwood Museum. Selections included artwork by artists Larry Bell, Ken Price, Ronald Davis, Ron Cooper, and Dean Stockwell.

Dean Stockwell (1964) by Dennis Hopper

Larry Bell (1964) by Dennis Hopper

Fractured Girl (1988) by Dennis Hopper

Andy Warhol with Flower (2006) by Dennis Hopper

This article can’t begin to give you more than the vaguest of glimpses into what can only be described as an extraordinary life. Dennis Hopper was an intense and complicated individual, impassioned & intelligent. His death is a tragic loss for the art world & the entire world. Hopper passed away on the morning of May 29th, 2010 having recently celebrated his 74th birthday. He had been battling cancer since the fall of 2009.

Namaste, Mr. Hopper.

Bad Heart (1988) by Dennis Hopper

‘If’
by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on”;

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings – nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man my son!

Spread The Word!

Tags: actors, Andy Warhol, Art, art collector, art world, artist, artists, arts, artwork, automobile accident, Basquiat, being difficult, Better Homes and Gardens, Campbell's Soup Cans, Cancer, commander, complicated, contributions, Dean Stockwell, Dennis, Dennis Hopper, difficult to work with, extraordinary life, film, filmmaker, France, From Hell To Texas, giant, Harwood Museum, hollywood, Hopper, if, if by rudyard kipling, Ike, intense, James Dean, Ken Price, Larry Bell, man ray, Marcell Duchamp, matthew hays, musicians, New Mexico, order of arts and letters, Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, ostracized, painter, passed away, photographer, photographs, Photography, photos, poet, poetry, poets, potential, prolific, Rebel Without A Cause, refused direction, Robert Dean Stockwell, Ron Cooper, Ronald Davis, Roy Lichtenstein, rudyard kipling, salvador dali, Screen Tests, Sculptor, silent films, star, successful, Taos, Terry Southern, Tina Turner, tragic loss, walk of fame, Warhol, writer

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May

Guerilla Collages by NYC Art Criminal “Poster Boy”

Posted by: Kenneth Rougeau in Art & Artists, Collage

Poster Boy is an anonymous New York City based street artist whose only utensil is a razor. His supplies? The posters adorning the walls of subway platforms across Manhattan. Poster Boy has been creating guerrilla collage art thick with political satire in the streets & subways of New York City since the Spring of 2008. He cuts out sections of self-adhesive advertisements & pastes the poster pieces back up in new bizarre, often brilliant, configurations.

"Eye Yam" by Poster Boy

“At first, it was just something to keep me occupied while waiting on the subway,” Poster Boy told Ben Walters of The Guardian. The artist discovered that, unlike the cardboard posters in the subway trains, the advertising posters on the subway platforms themselves were printed on self-adhesive material that could be quickly pasted back up after being torn or cut out. In 2008 alone he created over 200 underground collages from posters in the NYC subway systems.

"so don't blink" by Poster Boy & Aakash Nihalani

Poster Boy has no preconceived notions when creating & compares his poster mash-ups to hip-hop freestyling. “I don’t have anything planned… go there, see something, get inspired and do the work.” He uses the images available, often in ways that relate to current events.

"UseLess" by Poster Boy

“The pieces generally have a critical edge to them, making comments on the state of society and on the advertisements themselves,” noted one blogger. Poster Boy has been referred to as the “Matisse of subway mash-ups,” “a kind of anti-consumerist Zorro,” and “an anti-consumerist guerilla artist.” He considers his work “a social thing, as opposed to being an artist making things for bored rich people to hang above their couch.”

"911 cover up" by Poster Boy

“I want it to be free of copyright and free of authorship, as much as possible,” says the artist. “The overall goal for Poster Boy is to inspire others. I’d love to see people take up the Poster Boy model and create change within their environment.” “No matter what I do to the piece, as long as I did something to those advertisements and that saturation, it’s political. It’s anti-media, anti–established art world.”

As Poster Boy‘s fame has spread, other artists have begun to emulate his techniques. If these are unconnected individuals copying the original artist, or part of the “Poster Boy movement” has not been publicly confirmed.

"It's Natural" by Poster Boy

The collages are transitive in nature, generally torn down by Metro Transit Authority employees, but are recorded in photographs & displayed on Poster Boy‘s flickr photostream. He has collaborated with street artist Aakash Nihalani, who uses brightly colored strips of electrical tape to create three dimensional geometric patterns.

"HeadsonClasson" by Poster Boy & Aakash Nihalani

Poster Boy‘s activities are, of course, illegal, however the art wasn’t initially much of a priority for MTA police. “Vandalism of our property is illegal, and we prosecute to the fullest extent of the law,” spokesperson Aaron Donovan told New York Arts reporter Brian Raftery. “That being said, the problem to date has been minimal.”

"You R What U Listen 2" by Poster Boy

Poster Boy had several brushes with the transit police, but on various occasions they’ve let him go with a warning. However, on January 30, 2009 a man presumed to be Poster Boy was arrested by undercover officers. Henry Matyjewicz, 27, was charged with two misdemeanor counts of criminal mischief.

Henry Matyjewicz, aka Poster Boy

In the beginning, Poster Boy‘s work was illicit & the artist claimed, “I don’t want to make any money off of it. I don’t want to bring it into the galleries.” However, following his arrest, Poster Boy‘s work has begun to show in galleries including a one-person show in Brooklyn – a move criticised by the street art blog community.

"Your mom is anti-painting" by Poster Boy

In an interview with Matt Harvey of the New York Press, Matyjewicz explains, “Like I said, the evidence that was thrown against me, these are random posters that were vandalized and not for what was at the show. It was a legal piece. They went to the show on the suspicion that Poster Boy was going to be there since that was on the flyer and since I was working on the legal piece, they were like, ‘This is Poster Boy, let’s get him.’ So it was kind of expected in a way.”

"Limelight" by Poster Boy

Henry Matyjewicz was sentenced to 11 months time on Riker’s Island. It seems the judge had initially made a ruling in Henry‘s favor that would have allowed him to avoid serving jail time, however Matyjewicz failed to appear in court and had to do time.

"That's how you spell diversity" by Poster Boy

Fans & followers of the art criminal are outraged, spawning a “Save Poster Boy” movement including the “Free Poster Boy!” Facebook group. “I just hung up the phone with Poster Boy’s lawyer, Kerry Gotlib, a few minutes ago,” Free Poster Boy! group moderator Adri Cowan said in an update, “who said that PB was granted bail from an appeals judge this past Friday and is just waiting for paperwork to go through – and that he’ll be out on bail within the next few days!” Henry Matyjewicz is currently out on bail as of May 20th, 2010.