Meet the Artist: Gordon Hopkins

The image of Gordon Hopkins‘ vibrant abstract artwork is featured as part of our campaign for the 14^th edition of Affordable Art Fair Brussels (8 – 12 February 2023, Tour & Taxis).

Read on to find out more about how family, landscape architecture and the Mediterranean have influenced Gordon’s journey…

Can you tell us about your journey to the arts? What made you decide to become a painter after working as a landscape architect? 

I grew up in a creative environment: my mother was a painter, my father a sculptor and I studied art at Principia College in Illinois. During that time I also collaborated with the landscape architect Shep Butler which lead to 15 years of designing gardens in California. I loved the job of designing anything.

But after a while, my desire to pursue life as an artist grew stronger and I decided to devote myself to painting. I moved to Belgium where a gallery took my work in and nurtured me in becoming a professional artist. I then had a few shows in art fairs around Europe and the US and began to sell a few pieces here and there. It was an exciting time for me. And now I’ve been an artist for 20 years!

What is the inspiration behind your work?

A lot of inspiration still comes from my time as a landscape architect and garden designer. Patterns, botanicals, landscapes and repetition are all key elements that can be found in my paintings. In my abstract work you can find lines, dots, circles and other kinds of shapes.

In terms of palette, California with it’s amazing, colourful landscapes and all the lemons, oranges and avocados that grew there, has stayed in my mind as I moved through my life. Since living in Europe, I’ve been similarly inspired by trips to the Mediterranean. I just enjoy working with colours that I love and I wish to bring a sense of joy and optimism to my work. I am in a way painting my own landscape, my own dreamworld.

What is your creative process?

My creativity is based on a permanent observation of the environment and my surroundings. I get quite excited about simple elements that I see, whether it is a lemon or a fish on a plate.

Often I’ll start off with a sketch or I take pictures of things that I see and then in my studio I play with those images on canvas. I begin with a base of acrylic colour and then superimpose layers of oil paint to create blocks or rounds of colours and build a still life or some kind of painting with those simple ideas that come about. They just kind of ‘fall onto the canvas’ in a way that can be pretty exciting.

The symbols and ordinary objects that I choose to draw in my paintings become sort of focal points. I like to accentuate or exaggerate them in the extent that they become kind of naïve.

As an artist what does a typical day look like for you?

I tend to work in sporadic periods throughout the week. I wake up, grab a coffee, walk into my studio/kitchen area and begin by looking at my unfinished works. When you have your paintings in your line of sight you want to work. I could work for 4 – 5 hours straight and then stop for a day. It’s random. I often don’t remember whether it’s a weekday or weekend because I’m just jumping in and out of my work all the time.

But there are times where it can get really intense. This is the case when I am getting ready for an exhibition. On top of that I also need to take care of my daily life, whether it’s spending time with my daughter, taking my dog for a walk, doing some accounting or paperwork.

What moment in your career are you most proud of?

There are quite a few. One of them is being accepted and represented by certain galleries. Another one is having people just really enjoy my work. It seems amazing to me how a person can be so happy to have something like that on their wall. It also feels gratifying when delivering my painting into someone’s home. It is a very exciting moment to see how one of my paintings becomes part of a person’s life. Other special moments in my career were when I painted my first really big painting, when I attended my first Christie’s auction and when I participated in my first fair together with my twin brother in Zürich.

Your twin brother Mark Hopkins is also an artist. Can you tell us more about his work?

My twin brother Mark is a really talented artist based in the US. Mark creates sculptures in wood, a material that he cuts, glues and assembles. He then adds other materials such as paper, tissue and cloth to them, and finishes off by colouring his three dimensional sculptural compositions. His work, like mine, plays with pattern and colours. We use similar colours in our work.

What does Affordable Art Fair represent for you?

My work has been presented at Affordable Art Fairs around the world for over 12 years now. It’s been amazing to show my work in all these different countries and it has contributed a lot to the success I’ve had globally in my career.

Be sure to snap up your tickets to the 14th edition of Affordable Art Fair Brussels (8 – 12 February 2023, Tour & Taxis) to see Gordon’s work up close at Art Platinum’s stand.