Dennis Hopper says museum show tops 'Easy Rider'
Billie
By Matt Daily
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The first museum retrospective of Dennis Hopper's art
work opened on Saturday, and the movie star pronounced it the highlight of a
tumultuous life -- topping even his classic film ``Easy Rider.''
``It is the most important thing that ever happened to me, to be here at this
museum. That is serious, this is not about making 'Easy Rider', it is about
making these paintings,'' said Hopper, referring to his 1969 movie about two
hippies motorcycling across the United States in a drug-fuelled search for
freedom from convention.
``That is much more important to me than anything else that has ever happened
in my life,'' he told reporters.
The show at Amsterdam's Stedelijk Museum, which runs until April 16, is a
collection of more than 100 paintings, photos, films and sculpture dating back
to the mid-1950s.
The works show a wide diversity in styles, from abstract expressionism to
efforts in photo-realism. A number of photos show giants of the art world --
Robert Rauschenberg sticking out his tongue, Andy Warhol smiling shyly behind a
flower.
``I am very humbled by having this show,'' said Hopper. ``I am fully aware that
Cezanne in his lifetime never had a retrospective, I am fully aware that Van
Gogh never had a retrospective and so many of the great artists were never
allowed to see their work in one place.''
Hopper, 64, started painting in the 1950s. His work has been exhibited in
galleries for years, and the actor, renowned for his roles in such films as
``Easy Rider,'' ``Apocalypse Now'' and ``Blue Velvet,'' has long been a serious
art collector.
Hopper admitted heavy drug and alcohol use had played a role in a number of
works in the new exhibit. The artist, now sober and drug-free for 18 years --
save the occasional marijuana cigarette -- pointed to paintings that museum
director Rudi Fuchs referred to as ``wild.''
``I shut myself up and I did all those paintings in a couple of weeks, up the
whole time on cocaine,'' he said.
But Hopper did not credit his creativity to the drugs. Instead, he recalled how
acting guru Lee Strasberg taught him to use his senses and how Jackson
Pollock's art teacher Thomas Hart Benton urged him as young man to ``get tight
and paint loose.''
``I think getting in a state where you are free of any pre-conceived ideas and
attack a canvas with just source materials is a wonderful freeing experience,''
he said.
Despite his art world achievements, Hopper said he was not ready to abandon
acting and directing.
``For the last four years I have been working on having this retrospective, and
that is all I have done. I have done just a couple of movies just to keep some
money in my pocket,'' he said.
``I am going to direct a movie shortly, as soon as I get out of this.''
"I'm a deep thinker." Christina Aguilera on MTV's 'Diary'
AGC FAQ and FUN STUFF
http://members.aol.com/pusssykatt/agcfaq.html