Dennis Hopper & The New Hollywood

Stairwell entrance to the Dennis Hopper exhibition at ACMI. Photograph: Julie Clarke 2010

I had one of those lovely moments of synchronicity this afternoon. I was having a cup of coffee in the arcade that runs off Block Court when Barbara Creed and Jeanette Hoorn (both Professors of Cinema at the University of Melbourne) stopped to say hello. They'd just been to see Dennis Hopper & The New Hollywood at ACMI. Although I'd mentioned Dennis Hopper in his role in Blue Velvet in my blog post earlier today I realised I hadn't yet seen the ACMI exhibition so I headed off, keen to see how ACMI staff had curated it.
I really enjoyed the interconnectivity between the visual texts in the exhibition and the manner in which they acutely demonstrated not only the immense contribution made by Hopper to art and film (direction/acting/photography/painting/collecting), but also how much of an influence he had on the arts in general.

The exhibition includes portraits of Hopper by artist's such as Andy Warhol, Annie Liebowitz and Bruce Connor as well as a painting of Hopper by the American artist and filmmaker Julian Schnabel. It also includes photographs taken by Hopper that document the changes in American culture during the 1960s. Nicknamed 'The Tourist', Hopper's photographs were reproduced in glossy magazine such as Vogue, Harpers Bazaar and Artforum. I can understand why they attracted such interest. I was particularly taken by his 1964 photograph of Paul Newman whose upright, naked body is inscribed with the shadow of a cyclone fence. Text and inscription is revealed in Hopper's series of 51 Polaroid photographs of various kinds of graffiti (exhibited under glass 3 down and 17 across in the exhibition space) and his continuing interest in collage, photographs and found objects is reflected in his personal collection of artworks from luminaries such as Robert Rauschenberg and Roy Lichtenstein on display. A duo-print by American photographer Edmund Teskes, inspired by the film The Last Movie written and directed by Hopper in 1971 is also included.

Some of Hopper's own large-scale paintings are represented and include Billboard Factory (Multi-image of a Woman's face), 1964-2000. I found Hopper's 1983 performance Life After on Canvas a little underwhelming, since the only thing we could see of the show in which he blew himself up with twenty sticks of dynamite at the Big H Speedway in Houston was Hopper bent down in front the dynamite and smoke from the explosion which obscured any view of his apparently undamaged body. I did however enjoy the fact that from that moment on he was drawn to artists who portrayed energy in their work. Some of the works of these artists are in the exhibition, as are film clips from some of Hopper's films that depict fiery explosions.

The most interesting connection for me, apart from all the amazing clips of Hopper doing what he does best in films, was the inclusion of a Jenny Holzer's LED text sculpture entitled Purple Blue, Arno, similar to the LED sculpture used in Catchfire (1990). In the film Jodie Foster plays conceptual artist Anne Benton and Hopper plays Milo a hit man. The film clip shown in the ACMI exhibition is one is which Foster and Hopper are talking together in a gallery, one of the walls is painted light red, similar to the color of the walls on the stairwell entry to the ACMI exhibition (see my photo above). I asked the staff about this connection and they said it was purely co-incidental. Amusing visuals in the exhibition include a 1975 digital print of Hopper with rollers in his hair, whilst on the set of the Australian film Mad Dog Morgan (Phillipe Mora) and Hopper relaxing on the same film-set drinking a can of Victoria Bitter beer. I agree with Barbara and Jeanette, the exhibition was fantastic!