The Essence of things:
The Art of talbot hopkins

july 27 - August 19, 2017
coolspace @ artspace

Talbot Hopkins’ work was chosen as the Critic’s Choice: Visual Arts in the Critical Mass 5 exhibition. Hopkins’ exhibition is the fifth in the series of solo exhibitions that are part of the Critical Mass project. Each year an art critic has chosen one artist from a large group exhibition, and my choice of Hopkins was based on a magnetic self-portrait in oils, "Into the Fire" -- also included in this show. Self-portraiture is a significant aspect of this exhibition and her work in its entirety. In these studies of herself, she achieves an admirable balance between self-revelation, self-scrutiny and self-concealment. Emblematic of this is the version of her face in In and Out of the Fire: partially lit and partially in shadow.

STATEMENT FROM THE ARTIST

“I believe the pieces in this exhibition reflect my love of beauty--especially that found in nature--as well as a subconscious and conscious desire for peace and simplicity.” 

Excerpt from the critic’s review:
Robert Pincus

“The object is simple: A small vase, wider at the bottom and with vertical ribs. It is situated at the edge of a smooth wood surface and set against a muted background. But description alone doesn’t convey the experience of seeing this image by Talbot Hopkins – the elegance of its geometry, the graceful convergence of its colors, the interplay of light and shadow.

This painting is "Portugal," and it is part of a flat out beautiful exhibition at artspace in downtown Shreveport, entitled The Essence of Things. The show is a moving demonstration of the power of realism in painting. It is also a demonstration of the power of painting in general.

Like other gifted painters, she manages to make us care about people we know only through her likenesses of them. The very young Hannah Love, rendered in watercolor in 2003, isn’t looking our way, but her expression is still captivating, her look thoughtful. Hopkins clearly views children as full-fledged individuals, even if they are also emblems of sweetness and innocence. Love’s pale dress almost dissolves into its background, but her face is vivid. In "Jett at Eight Years," the artist’s son wears an expression of delight. The rendering of him, in gray, black and white, is realistic and then some, its hyperclarity almost surreal. Lucien Freud spoke of aspiring to “an intensification of reality” in his portraits and this same quality pervades Hopkins’ several interpretations of Jett. He is the most frequent subject of her portraits, from early childhood to his current college years.”

EXHIBITING ARTIST:
Talbot hopkins

ARTIST BIO

Talbot Hopkins has been drawing and painting commissioned portraits for over twenty-five years. She also paints still-lifes in oil and watercolor.

Beginning her career with works in pencil, Talbot has mastered the media of watercolor, pastel, conte' crayon, and oil. In recent years she has worked mostly in oil and pencil.

Her works can be seen in homes in Seattle, Dallas, Shreveport, New Orleans, and Washington, D.C.