| Issue #50, March 21, 2008 |
Honoring the Artist: Curt Hoppe
To hear Curt Hoppe, this week's cover artist, tell it, "Nothing new has happened since I was interviewed the last time." He's still working on his series about women of action, including roller derby skaters and females who wrestle in jello. Simply put, "girls doing things for fun." (By the way, Hoppe is no sexist; he was just having fun himself with the word "girls.")
Q: Are you really saying nothing new has happened to you in the last year?
A: Truthfully, nothing. I still take the dog out every day.
Q: I think you're saying that because you've lived in the Bowery, in the same place, for 32 years, that you do the same thing every day when you walk through the neighborhood. It's a routine. Do you stop by and look at galleries? There aren't many on the Bowery.
A: I live closer to Chinatown, so there are lots of galleries. Let's see. I also stop by every day to buy some raisin oatmeal cookies from this great bakery next to a Cuban restaurant. Every time you go, the cookies are different. They're like what your mother used to make. They're not like Pepperidge Farm, where they all taste the same.
Q: I take it you don't like things and experiences that conform to a formula. What else don't you like that isn't personal?
A: Furniture and clothes, like Banana Republic. They don't let you decide for yourself what you like. It's already been picked out for you.
Q: Your neighborhood is full of formulas; it has changed so much. How do you feel about the changes?
A: The old restaurants and shops have folded. The area is getting overdeveloped. People from other places are going to the bars. I'm not trying to wax nostalgic, but the changes are not all good. I have to laugh at the names they give neighborhoods now, like the Bowery is BoHo. Harlem is called Central Park North.
Q: You said nothing has changed in your daily life, but does this apply to your art?
A: No. Every day is a different day when it comes to painting.
Q: Yet there is a similarity between your routine walk in the neighborhood and your creative process. You mentioned that you are myopic. You don't veer off from what you're doing. You meant your art, but I relate it to your daily activities, too.
A: I stay focused on what I'm doing. I only work on one painting at a time. I don't know how long I'll be working on this series, however.
Q: So you don't make plans for the future about what paintings you might be doing?
A: No. Things can change tomorrow. People think about what they might be doing in the future. They project the future, but it's really a fantasy that they are projecting. Reality isn't like that. I don't know what will happen. I may fall and trip and break my leg. Of course, you have to think about the future as far as the basics go, like health care.
Q: So how do you see your life and change?
A: I ride along a two-lane blacktop. I'll come to a fork in the road. Then I'll decide what to do.
- Marion Wolberg Weiss
Curt Hoppe's work can be seen at New York's Stricola Gallery in November and at www.bankgalerie.com and www.stricolagallery.com
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