We were lucky to catch up with Carl Hopgood recently and have shared our conversation below.

Carl, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

My exhibition at UTA Artist Space last summer was an incredible opportunity to showcase my art. I showed my Neon Assemblages and Film installations. Arthur Lewis who is the head of UTA Art introduced me to the renowned collector Beth De Woody. After seeing my work she acquired my neon chair assemblage ‘Just Say Gay’. The work was incredibly important to me as it was a protest piece that I made in response to the anti LGBTQ laws that were being passed in Florida. When I discovered that the work was going to be exhibited in West Palm Beach the following year at The Bunker Art Space (www.thebunkerartspace.com) I was so excited and it was an incredible feeling as I knew it was the right time and place to make a meaningful difference. Through DeWoody’s passion, vision, and continuing support of emerging artists and galleries, she has redefined the boundaries of collecting. By championing emerging, and at times, overlooked artists, especially in the early stages of their careers, she has amassed a truly unique collection which is housed at The Bunker.

My work will be part of the 2023/2024 Presentation opening on Dec 3rd as part of the New Wave Art Weekend. The show will incorporate a four-room installation of artist-made chairs and two dimensional interiors. Created over a 70-year period, the works tackle functionality, aesthetic, and concept in innovative ways. Artist and designers include Lina Bo Bardi, Cheryl Ekstrom, Pedro Friedeberg, Carl Hopgood, LaLanne, Arthur Simms, Kate Millett, Vito Acconci and Germane Barnes. To make an appointment to view the collection follow this link https://www.thebunkerartspace.com/contact-us

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

From Cardiff, Hopgood emerged out of Goldsmiths College in London just after the Young British Artists movement of Damien Hirst and Sarah Lucas had burst out from its art program. It was six years after the Freeze show in a Docklands warehouse put that gaggle of bawdy Brits on the global map that he earned his BFA. He was never far behind, though, showing solo at two Mayfair galleries, just after graduating in 1994. His recent exhibition at the UTA Artist Space Los Angeles called Fragile World brought together new and existing sculptural works combining neon, found objects, and video. His arresting film sculptures exist in a blur, like his plaster cast of a sleeping man that seems to breathe via a 16mm projection. Hopgood has shown ​​from New York to Australia and all over London and Europe. Amid his ongoing group and solo exhibitions, one of his works, Digital Taxidermy, was featured on Project Runway All-Stars, in 2016. He’d moved to the Hollywood Hills by then, where he started finding inspiration in the everyday objects of our city.
His work is featured in several public and private collections including those of Beth De Woody, The Vinik Family Foundation, Eugenio López Alonso (The Jumex Museum), Morgan Freeman, The Groucho Club / Artfarm and Pino Cassagrande.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

In early 2020, when the pandemic hit,” he tells us, “I would see all the bars and restaurants shuttered in West Hollywood. It was like a ghost town. Looking through the store front windows, all I could see were chairs stacked on top of each other – and that image took me straight back to my unhappy childhood when I was bullied by classmates at school, they would call me names and chase after me, push me to the ground and kick me in the groin.

I managed to escape and found sanctuary under a stack of chairs in the school assembly hall. The school therapist helped me cope by using a technique called Empty Chair Therapy, where you would talk to an empty chair about your feelings.

This trigger inspired me to make my first empty chair neon assemblage called ‘My Heart Is Open’ This piece got a lot of attention as I shoed it in the window of the Maddox Gallery in LA and a week later it was sold to a collector in Tampa.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The power of Art can change the world, avant-garde artistic movements, such as Dadaism and surrealism, influenced protest movements and movements from The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), a grassroots group that emerged in the late 1980s, orchestrated a powerful example of detournement when it repurposed the pink triangle used by the Nazis to target and identify gay men, featuring it on posters, stickers, and billboards to shock the public out of its complacency and force the government to address the AIDS crisis. In my own work pieces such as ‘Just Say Gay’, ‘Ban Guns Not Books’ and ‘Freedom To Choose’ all address the Republican’s aggressive conservative agenda in Florida – The De Santis administrations mission to pass laws which are anti LGBTQ, anti Women and anti Trans rights. These are being expanded across America. Through my art I can raise awareness of injustices and give a voice to the unheard and unseen. This makes my practice incredibly rewarding.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.carlhopgood.com
• Instagram: @carlhopgood
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Fragileworld27

Image Credits
Portrait of Carl Hopgood by Raymond Lee Images Of Work: 1. ‘You Tried To Bury Me But I Was A seed’ 12ft Wooden Ladder, Blue Neon. Image courtesy of Carl Hopgood 2. ‘Freedom To Choose’ Metal Bird Cage, White Neon Coat Hanger. Image Courtesy of UTA Artist Space/ Carl Hopgood 3. ‘Looking For Love In All The Wrong Places’ Box Spring Mattress, Multi Color Neon Image Courtesy of Carl Hopgood / Svet Jacqueline 4. ‘Just Say Gay’ Painted Wooden Chairs, White Neon image courtesy of UTA Artist Space, Carl Hopgood (Collection of Beth De Woody) 5. ‘You Changed My Life’ Wooden Chairs, White Neon. Image Courtesy of Carl Hopgood / Svet Jacqueline (Private Collection) 6. ‘You Are Loved’ Wooden Chairs, White Neon. Image Courtesy of Carl Hopgood, UTA Artist Space (private collection) 7. ‘My Pain Today Is My Strength Tomorrow’ Black Wooden Chairs, White Neon ( Dog Pound Gym)