Joel Hopler

18in X 24in Woodblock print on paper

The woodblock this print was made on plywood and includes laser cut with imagery from Albrecht Dürer’s human proportion studies, and a freeform drawing produced with a hand-held router.

60 in X 72 in, Acrylic paint on panels.

This piece was the result of an experimental workshop/collaboration. The workshop was initialized by a small archive of sampled, greyscale, and cropped down imagery from comics, cartoons, art historical imagery, etc. in 8in by 8in prints on paper. A participant, in this case my wife, Emily Hopler, would select between 3-6 images from the archive. I would then use those images as source material to produce a painting.

This workshop expanded into the works under the series “Intangible Analysis”.

While researching how “normal” or “non-super” people are presented in comic narratives, I noticed that characteristics of fragility passivity and collective uncertainty are common traits. In these two pieces, I’ve presented binary representations of masculine and feminine super and non-super characters interacting.

Both images are sourced from “The Death of Superman” graphic novel, where the most "super” of comic characters is exposed as mortal.

While researching how “normal” or “non-super” people are presented in comic narratives, I noticed that characteristics of fragility passivity and collective uncertainty are common traits. In these two pieces, I’ve presented binary representations of masculine and feminine super and non-super characters interacting.

Both images are sourced from “The Death of Superman” graphic novel, where the most "super” of comic characters is exposed as mortal.

Vector image, printed at 18in X 24in on paper

Here a frame from “Dark Knight III” is translated into vectored shapes and abstracted. This explorations tests the emotive context of abstracted scale in relation to its narrative function. In searching for an intersection of abstraction and narration, the digital realm is a rich resource.

24in X 36in, sharpie on mylar

Being inspired through researching Gerhard Richter’s process, specifically of squeegeeing paint across a canvas and producing abstracted greyscale paintings from photographic references, these pieces engage with his studio process from a home-made/craft orientation. The translucent plastic replaces canvas, paint and squeegee are replaced with sharpies, evenly spaced out and taped to a ruler then dragged across the surface. The greyscale image is homemade charcoal, hand-pressed into thick paper. The only white, lighter areas are left as that was simply where the sun was shining through a nearby window in the house.

24in X 36 in, charcoal on paper

Being inspired through researching Gerhard Richter’s process, specifically of squeegeeing paint across a canvas and producing abstracted greyscale paintings from photographic references, these pieces engage with his studio process from a home-made/craft orientation. The translucent plastic replaces canvas, paint and squeegee are replaced with sharpies, evenly spaced out and taped to a ruler then dragged across the surface. The greyscale image is homemade charcoal, hand-pressed into thick paper. The only white, lighter areas are left as that was simply where the sun was shining through a nearby window in the house.

24in X 36in, charcoal, crayon on paper

As Iron Man falls from the sky among the debris of his own machines, he is rendered with the use of crayon and homemade charcoal. The bridge between digital content and technology is how things are physically made. The materials chosen as an image rendered into existence are meaningful in this research endeavor into the importance of material.

18in X 24in, black spray paint on paper

One of Albrecht Dürer’s etchings of St. Christoper is cropped down to the head of the saint and the christ child on his shoulders. The image is then cut out of vinyl, but not weeded and placed onto a piece of heavyweight paper. The vinyl is then weeded, new shapes are hand-cut but all the pieces remain on the paper, displaced. The work is then spray painted and all vinyl is removed.

The result of a technical exploration into the procedures of manufacturing signage, combined with iconic mythology leaves an abstraction engaged formally with the structure of imagery itself.

36in X 48in, Acrylic on particle board

In this series, Images of Frank Miller’s “Dark Knight” graphic novel series and Albrecht Dürer’s etchings are heavily cropped and overlaid on a variety of approaches to self-portraiture, from comic, to illustrative to abstraction.

36in X 48in, Acrylic on particle board

In this series, Images of Frank Miller’s “Dark Knight” graphic novel series and Albrecht Dürer’s etchings are heavily cropped and overlaid on a variety of approaches to self-portraiture, from comic, to illustrative to abstraction.

36in X 48in, Acrylic on particle board

In this series, Images of Frank Miller’s “Dark Knight” graphic novel series and Albrecht Dürer’s etchings are heavily cropped and overlaid on a variety of approaches to self-portraiture, from comic, to illustrative to abstraction.

36in X 48in, Acrylic on particle board

In this series, Images of Frank Miller’s “Dark Knight” graphic novel series and Albrecht Dürer’s etchings are heavily cropped and overlaid on a variety of approaches to self-portraiture, from comic, to illustrative to abstraction.

36in X 48in, Acrylic on particle board

In this series, Images of Frank Miller’s “Dark Knight” graphic novel series and Albrecht Dürer’s etchings are heavily cropped and overlaid on a variety of approaches to self-portraiture, from comic, to illustrative to abstraction.

36in X 48in, Acrylic on particle board

In this series, Images of Frank Miller’s “Dark Knight” graphic novel series and Albrecht Dürer’s etchings are heavily cropped and overlaid on a variety of approaches to self-portraiture, from comic, to illustrative to abstraction.

36in X 48in, Acrylic on particle board

Exploring the transition between types of line, this piece engages with blurred, fluid applications of color as styled line work undergoes metamorphosis from one style or function to another.