DENNIS HOPPER (1936-2010)
William Claxton: At Dennis Hopper's Home, 1965
Print in Colors, Printed in the 2010s
11" x 14 1/2"
Dennis Hopper was an actor, filmmaker, visual artist, and photographer. Known for his realistic portrayals of drug addicts and eccentric characters, Hopperâ€â„¢s oeuvre is characterized by his interest in Americana and people living on the fringes of society. Born on May 17, 1936 in Dodge City, KS, he studied at both the Kansas City Art Institute and the Actors Studio in New York. His career in Hollywood was marked by periods of both success and rejection—in the early 1960s, Hopper turned to photography after he was blacklisted by the director Henry Hathaway. His notable photographic works include portraits of Martin Luther King Jr., Jane Fonda, and Andy Warhol, as well as images taken during the Civil Rights March in Selma. After his return to acting and the success of the film Easy Rider, he retreated to a small town of Taos, NM where he shot Drugstore Camera (1970â€â€œ1972), in which Hopper used disposable cameras to document his secluded life in the desert town and road trips beyond its borders. The series was exhibited at Gagosian Gallery in 2011. In 2010, with the help of his friend Julian Schnabel, Hopperâ€â„¢s work was given a major retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. He died on May 29 that same year in Los Angeles, CA.

Mounted