The latest piece in my In the Style of… series is a bit of a departure from the typical “portrait” the rest of the series involves. It was created for a group show that opened at The Hive Artists’ Hub on Friday September 28, 2012 entitled Let’s Do It Downtown. This is intended to be the first piece of a mini series with in the over all series, which will be all be in the style of Edward Hopper, and be set in various locations around Medicine Hat.
Edward Hopper (July 22, 1882 – May 15, 1967) was an American realist known primarily for his oil painting, but also worked in watercolour, printmaking and etching throughout his career.
Hopper’s most systematic declaration of his philosophy as an artist was given in a handwritten note, titled “Statement”, submitted in 1953 to the journal, Reality:
Great art is the outward expression of an inner life in the artist, and this inner life will result in his personal vision of the world. No amount of skilful invention can replace the essential element of imagination. One of the weaknesses of much abstract painting is the attempt to substitute the inventions of the human intellect for a private imaginative conception.
The inner life of a human being is a vast and varied realm and does not concern itself alone with stimulating arrangements of color, form and design.
The term life used in art is something not to be held in contempt, for it implies all of existence and the province of art is to react to it and not to shun it.
Painting will have to deal more fully and less obliquely with life and nature’s phenomena before it can again become great.
(source)
The making of “In the Style of Edward Hopper” from Susan Knight on Vimeo.