Scars and stripes
The March
We take a look at the signs of Hopper's times in Focus on Hopper's America.
Hanging on one of the walls in Gallery 1 as part of Dennis Hopper & the New Hollywood is an original artwork by Roy Lichtenstein called Mad Scientist. No longer part of Hopper's private collection, the painting was included in the show by exhibition curator Matthieu Orlean because, as film writer Philippa Hawker outlines, it resonates "with aspects of Hopper's work: his interest in rebellion, in minorities, in risk-taking".
Segmented into three parts that all speak directly to Hopper's work and the exhibition, Focus on Hopper's America is a film season shaped by the artistic, social and political transformations of modern America.
'Los Angeles, the Real Face of Hollywood' dismantles the polished and preordained vision of the fabled 'City of Angels'. Included in this section are The Cool School, Morgan Neville's definitive record of the Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles Plays Itself, Thom Andersen's exploration of L.A. as portrayed on film, and two Kenneth Anger shorts including his masterpiece Scorpio Rising (described by Anger as "a death mirror held up to American culture").
'Altered States: a Country in Change' looks at the ways in which the Vietnam War and the US Civil Rights Movement radicalised the margins of American society. Highlights are Far From Vietnam, an anti-war indictment crafted by some of cinema's great visionaries, Black Panthers, Agnès Varda's powerful documentary and James Blue's The March, a document of the 1963 March to Washington. Plus there's the Australian premiere of Soundtrack for a Revolution that tracks the spirit of the Civil Rights Movement through the empowering freedom songs sung by protestors and activists on picket lines and marches, in mass meetings and in jail.
Finally, 'Rebellion in the USA' is an intoxicating mix of counter-culture classics including two shorts by Bruce Conner, Barbet Schroeder's More and Hopper's own psychedelic western The Last Movie.
As film curator Kristy Matheson says, Focus on Hopper's America "serves to deepen the experience of exhibition goers and allows them to immerse themselves in the environment, artistic influences and works of one of Hollywood's greatest exports".
For screening details click here
Published Thursday, 26 November 2009
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