From Cardiff, Hopgood emerged out of Goldsmiths College in London just after the Young British Artists movement of Damien Hirst and Sarah Lucas had burst out from its art program. It was six years after the Freeze show in a Docklands warehouse put that gaggle of bawdy Brits on the global map that he earned his BFA. He was never far behind, though, showing solo at two Mayfair galleries, just after graduating in 1994.
His recent exhibition at the UTA Artist Space Los Angeles called Fragile World brought together new and existing sculptural works combining neon, found objects, and video. His arresting film sculptures exist in a blur, like his plaster cast of a sleeping man that seems to breathe via a 16mm projection. Hopgood has shown from New York to Australia and all over London and Europe.
Amid his ongoing group and solo exhibitions, one of his works, Digital Taxidermy, was featured on Project Runway All-Stars, in 2016. He’d moved to the Hollywood Hills by then, where he started finding inspiration in the everyday objects of our city.
His work is featured in several public and private collections including those of Beth De Woody, The Vinik Family Foundation, Eugenio López Alonso (The Jumex Museum), Morgan Freeman, The Groucho Club / Artfarm and Pino Cassagrande.