Fans of one the best-ever rock groups QUEEN should make tracks to their nearest IMAX theater this weekend to see This exhilarating live concert from 1981 is a window into Queen in their most unalloyed form, giving audiences a larger-than-life, front-row immersive experience. The film was digitally re-mastered for the first time into the image … Continue reading
Coming-of-age films tend to have a protagonist in their late teens, but what happens if your life at that age is too fraught and difficult to come of age properly? That was the case for most queer people in 1980s Britain. A very homophobic press and media, reflecting national opinions, combined with an … Continue reading
Like Queerguru’s own Editor, CARL HOPGOOD, is a dispaced Brit. He studied at the (legendary) Goldsmiths College in London, and after two solo shows in Mayfair, he ended up in LA inspired by David Hockney’s and his (very homoerotic) A Bigger Splash. It’s a long way from his birthplace in Wales but it gave Hopgood a sense of freedom in both his art and life. He used his experiences and his politics as a queer man to influence his art and highlight social issues through his sculptural pieces that incorporate found objects and neon, all inspired by memories and everyday life.
One piece demonstrating this is “Just Say Gay,” which grabbed our attention and we knew we needed to know more. Just back from Art Basel Miami Beach where he showed “Ban Guns Not Books,” a sculpture made from school desks, a neon gun, and neon books, and he is now working on a series of empty chair paintings (“Old empty chairs are not empty in reality, memories always sit there,” he explains).
Plus filmmaker Kate Rees Davies is finishing a FRAGILE WORLD documentary about his life that releases in 2024. Some of Hopgood’s art can be seen at The Bunker Art Space in LA as part of the prestigious private collection of Beth Rudin Woody and we got to know more of (the charming) Hopgood when we talked to him on Zoom.
AfTERGLOW ✩✩✩✩ Southwark Playhouse, London It’s Wednesday, Hump Day, and the irony is not lost on us as the first scene of Afterglow, written and directed by S. Asher Gelman, plunges headfirst down a rabbit hole of naked, balletic grinding. It’s January in London and 0 Celsius outside but the thermostat is turned … Continue reading
Apple TV has just released the first teaser trailer of the highly anticipated series The New Look. Set in post-WW2 Paris, it is the story of the rise of courtier Christian Dior (Ben Mendelsohn) and how his new fame overshadows Coco Chanel. (Juliette Binoche) During the war, Dior was employed by Lucien Lelong … Continue reading
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