By Heather Ruenz
Editor
Fifteen paintings from Michael Hopkins’ “The X-Ray Series” will be on display at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater beginning next week.
Hopkins said even though he’s always had a very strong interest in the human form and its structure, “it’s the materials I choose to work with that dictate subject matter or the lack there of.
“Each viewer of my work comes to it with a different set of experiences, history, which will result in varying, different takes on what my work is about,” Hopkins said. “The best approach to viewing my work is to spend some actual time with it. This is in direct contrast to how people view most images.”
Hopkins said he began drawing when he was about 3 years old and his mom was his first art teacher.
“She was good at drawing, shading, and coloring. She would draw something and I would try and draw the same thing but better, though I never succeeded at that,” Hopkins said. “My mother was also very good at giving me constructive criticism concerning my drawings.”
Hopkins said he began to devote more time to his art when he was about 16, following the breakup with his girlfriend at the time.
After graduating from high school, Hopkins said he took business classes at college “and failed terribly. Where I grew up men didn’t become an artist, they became businessmen or learned a trade. They defined themselves by how much money they made, and let others define them in the same way.”
After dropping out of college Hopkins said he worked some “terrible jobs” for about two year, at which point he decided “to completely commit myself to becoming an artist. I went back to college and majored in art. As they say, the rest was history.”
Hopkins has had much success with his work including several paintings from “The X-Ray Series” on display in four permanent collections: the University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, Michigan; the Chasen Museum of Art, Madison; Flaten Art Museum, Northfield, Minnesota; Luther College Fine Arts Collection, Decorah, Iowa.
According to Hopkins one of his biggest influences was Ben Dallas, one of Hopkins’ art teachers at college.
“When I met Ben I was a very good academic artist but my work lacked any truly individual characteristics. He introduced me to new ways of thinking and creating art.”
Hopkins said if he could offer some words of advice to aspiring artists, it’s “to stick with it. Most people will try to talk you out of pursuing art.
“You only get one shot at life, and the best way to spend that life is by doing what you love to do,” Hopkins said. “Many of the greatest experiences of my life have been involved with making art, and the recognition and achievements have come about through my art.”
Hopkins said his favorite work is The Insect Series.
“Many times it takes me months of experimentation to get what I want. This series – and only this series – came about by making just one mark. These drawings were done with black gouache on white watercolor paper and are very influenced by Japanese aesthetics and calligraphy,” Hopkins said. “One of the drawings from The Insect Series is in the permanent collection of The Art Institute of Chicago.”
Hopkins said he is currently working on two series. One is a drawing series featuring white gouache on black paper. The second is a sculpture series done with metal wire.
“Both are going extremely well. I like to work on more than one series at a time. If I get stuck, or have issues on one series, I can then work on the other,” Hopkins said. “I am tinkering around with a brand new series, but haven’t figured it out yet.”
The exhibit will be on display in the Roberta A. Fiskum Art Gallery Oct. 12 through Nov. 6. A reception is slated for noon to 1:30 p.m., Oct. 14.
The gallery is located in the James R. Connor University Center at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
