Artist and gallery director Grace Hopkins was raised in a world of painters by her father, artist and Guggenheim Fellow Budd Hopkins, and her mother, arts writer, renowned critic and museum curator, April Kingsley. Hopkins uses the tools of photography to create images that are relevant, provocative and have the impact of paintings. “I zoom into the marks on the world to find those elements that elevate the greatest paintings: surface, texture, shadow, light, and color,” she said.
Artscope Magazine Cape Cod correspondent Laura Shabott talked with Hopkins at the Berta Walker Gallery in Provincetown, where she is the gallery director, about her current one-person show, “Circuits,” on view there through July 18. While they talked about her fascinating life, Hopkins was behind the desk working the computer like a ninja.
IN YOUR CURRENT SHOW AT BWG, THE WORK IS CIRCULAR, SCULPTURAL FORMAT AND OFF THE WALL. HOW DID THAT DEVELOP?
These circles have evolved over the past few years. I have been working in squares since art school (30 years ago!) and still do but I’m having a lot of fun with these circles and setting them up to jump and dance from one to the next has been enjoyable.
I saw a painting at Art Basel Miami Beach this winter that featured petri dishes filled with mini paintings, and I liked the idea of having the circles jump out from the wall and hover. It took a lot of trial and error, but I am super happy with how they turned out.