Matthew Hopkins
View stockroom & exhibitionsWorking with painting, drawing, video and sound, Hopkins’ work is often characterised by a caricatural, grotesque treatment of the figure. This approach centres around the transformation of the head into a terrain, where various threshold states of conciousness are navigated. Drawing upon experiences such as waking dreams, unexplained phenomena, and psychic forces, Hopkins’ work charts the conflict between the desire to find some sort of meaning, and the nonsensical, absurd reality of such experiences.
Born in 1978, Hopkins lives and works in Sydney and has been exhibiting locally and internationally since 2003. In 2008 he was a finalist in the Helen Lempriere Travelling Artist Scholarship and had a studio residence at Artspace. The exhibition Bated Breath in Nov/Dec 2012 will mark Hopkins’ fourth solo show at Gallery 9.
Concurrent to his visual art practice, Hopkins is active amongst a number of music and sound projects, releasing music and performing throughout Australia, North America and Europe since 2005. In 2011 he performed at the New Museum, New York, as part of the ‘Get Weird’ monthly sound series with the group NOTV. This event was held in conjunction with the exhibition George Condo: Mental States.