Duncan Hopkins

Duncan Hopkins

Bideford, Devon, United Kingdom

About Duncan Hopkins

A BRIEF OUTLINE I live and work in North Devon, UK. I have been here for over 10 years now and it feels like home, and the coast and landscape are deeply engaging and varied. I was born in 1968, and grew up in rural Hampshire, and spent many hours wandering around the countryside. I seem to have always doodled, drawn, photographed and been interested in visual communication and philosophical ideas. My formal training in the late 1980s was in graphic design, technical drawing and illustration (pre-computers), and I also worked with photography, film and sound. In 2003 I restudied graphic design and multimedia, focussing on computer-aided graphic design, art and web coding. This study allowed me to learn and develop various techniques and skills, but in truth I have always been interested in image making as a fine art practice, so undertook a Masters in Fine Art in Falmouth, Cornwall, 2010-2011. My primary practice since then has been drawing and painting, and this is something I will continue to develop and study. For me, making art has always been about a certain unique freedom, a way to try to understand and document life and experience, a brief breaking wave that comes and goes. My other interests include growing veg, herbs, flowers and fruit in the garden and allotment; visual astronomy; rural folk magic; buddhism; and electronic music. ARTIST STATEMENT The Sea Paintings North Devon, 09.2018 My drawings and paintings of the sea and water are produced through a combination of observation and improvisation. I observe the fractal, chaotic structures and wave patterns of a consistently changing substance, and the effects of energy, scale, light and shadow. I improvise through the painting and drawing processes and make formal visual decisions throughout the duration of the making of the image, referencing the figurative and the abstract, allowing the image to either document or deconstruct perspectives and representations. The sea can be passive, invigorating, intrusive; it can rest on the surface or rage against the rocks. The shore can be a place to escape to, to dream and find moments of peace. It can offer great vistas or tiny secretive details of elemental activity. The sea can divide or connect people and places. Symbolically the shore and sea environments can be poetic, metaphorical, political, historical, emotional; full and void, timeless yet completely unique moment to moment. I develop the images through a combination of processes – by spending time walking and watching on the shore, or from boats; absorbing atmosphere and effects of light and pattern, collecting memories; by sketching and photographing; and by working in the studio. I use a variety of materials (acrylics, pastels, oils, charcoal, pencil, various surfaces). Each medium has its own qualities, possibilities and limitations. I use various techniques and tools and also combine these, allowing control and chance to shape the outcomes. Each image is new and initially unknown – I have ideas and objectives, but each work develops a life of its own and this will inform the finished piece. I often work rapidly overall, and can become absorbed in details.

Education:

MA Fine Art: Contemporary Practice, University College Falmouth - 10.2010 - 9.2011

HNC Multimedia & Graphic Design, Strode College, Somerset - 2002 - 2004

BA Graphic Design, Bristol Polytechnic - 1987 - 1990

Events:

April 2018 - Longlist: Jackson’s Open Painting Prize 2018

20 July – 7 Sept 2018: COAST (Group Exhibition), White Moose Gallery, Moose Hall, Trinity Street, Barnstaple EX32 8HX

08 Jan – 17 Feb 2018: WAVE / PARTICLE (Solo exhibition), The Plough Arts Centre, 9-11 Fore Street, Great Torrington, Devon EX38 8HQ

Exhibitions:

1988 - Present

Assorted Group and Solo exhibitions in Somerset, Devon, Cornwall and London