Dennis Hopper on the Turner Prize
Dec 3 2007 Web Exclusive: by Vicky Anderson, Liverpool Daily Post
Dennis Hopper
THE eyes of the art world will be firmly fixed on Liverpool tonight, as in just a few hours the winner of the 2007 Turner Prize is announced live from the Tate.
Hollywood actor, artist and photographer Dennis Hopper is the man with the job of hosting the event tonight.
Ahead of the ceremony, which will be broadcast live on Channel 4 News from 7pm, Hopper met with journalists to discuss his love of art and enthusiasm for what he calls “the most prestigious award in the arts world”.
Be it jetlag or interview fatigue, the manic sparkle of those famously crazed blue eyes is somewhat subdued today, his gaze often distracted out of the window of the hotel lounge and the pouring rain in the street outside.
But he keeps talking, seemingly relaxed, not touching the tea tray that has been sat in front of him for several meetings.
Hopper, known for his roles in classic films including Easy Rider, Blue Velvet and Apocalypse Now, arrived in city for the first time ever yesterday, to look around Tate Liverpool and have lunch with the Turner Prize jury, who at this very moment are thrashing it out amongst themselves to finally decide the 2007 winner.
Of the shortlisted artists, Hopper told the Daily Post: “The exhibition is wonderful. I have no favourite and I think the panel are going to have a really hard time
“[Mark] Wallinger I had heard of, as CNN broadcast the bear outfit talking about the Turner Prize, but I wasn’t familiar with the others.
“I think that movie of Zarina Bhimji’s is very moving – for something without people in it, it was very interesting. [Nathan Coley’s] There Are No Miracles Here is pretty strong, as is the fantasy biker trip [Mike Nelson’s Amnesiac Shrine]... it’s all interesting, each of them. It’s going to be hard.”
A serious art collector, Hopper had wanted to travel to Liverpool earlier this year to catch the Tate’s Peter Blake retrospective – like so many of the biggest names in art and film over the last 50 years, a personal friend of the actor.
“I’m really impressed with the city and all the magnificent old buildings, I had no idea. And the expanse of the river is really dramatic – and where the Tate is is such a great old building.
“The permanent collection is wonderful – what a great education for anyone to be able to go in there.”
Hopper’s introduction to the worlds of contemporary art and photography came courtesy of two American icons.
“I saw my first abstract painting at Vincent Price’s house when I was 18. James Dean was always a painter and photographer, and he gave me the thought that made me want to be a director.”
Hopper’s close friends and acquaintances over the decades read like a who’s who of 20th Century cultural history – Elvis, Steve McQueen, Andy Warhol, Jack Nicholson – but strangely, given as both epitomise their homeland’s 1960s heydays, not the Beatles. But there is still a connection, according to the Oscar-nominated star.
“Well, Phil Spektor told me John Lennon wrote Come Together after he saw Easy Rider, and if you look at the lyrics that’s probably true.”
He explains: “Being an actor, it gives you a rot of calling card to be able to meet people and allow you access to a lot of people you wouldn’t have otherwise, and you end up becoming friends, or not, and that’s generally the way it works.”
In the last seven months, he says, he has shot four films, including the Quentin Tarentino-produced Hell Ride and a role as death in a forthcoming Wim Wenders movie, and had an exhibition of his photography at the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg – only the fifth American to have ever done so, and the only one whilst still alive.
“Most kids just stop painting – I just never stopped. I’ve been very fortunate that I’ve been able to live in a cultural world. When most other actors were going to pool parties, I went to art galleries, and that’s been the story of my life. I’ve dabbled in everything, all art.”
And at 71, the original easy rider grins: “I’ve just been trying to stay on the cutting edge.”
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