{"id":9344,"date":"2009-05-09T07:14:01","date_gmt":"2009-05-09T11:14:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=9344"},"modified":"2023-05-26T09:15:42","modified_gmt":"2023-05-26T13:15:42","slug":"in-dean-stockwell-news-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=9344","title":{"rendered":"Dennis Hopper Curating a Show in Taos"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here’s a really interesting interview with Dennis Hopper<\/a> about an art show he is curating at a gallery in Taos, featuring six long-time Taos artists (Dean Stockwell included). Interesting take from Hopper on the art scene, what he’s working on, and why he decided to finally curate a show. I love his answer to the question referencing Easy Rider<\/i> (“Are you tired yet of being the patron saint of freedom on two wheels?”):<\/p>\n

I prefer being in a car, really. I always enjoy getting off a bike, when everything’s finished. Everybody thinks I’m some sort of biker, which I never was. But that’s okay.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I know, it’s amazing<\/i>, isn’t it? To learn that Hopper was actually, you know, ACTING?<\/p>\n

The interview is great and I felt really smart reading it – only because I had seen the documentary The Cool School<\/i> (my review here<\/a>), about a particular group of alpha-male macho artists who pretty much created the modern art scene in LA in the 1950s. Dennis Hopper was part of that – as was Dean Stockwell (my original reason for seeing the film) – but because of that documentary, reading Hopper’s interview I felt like an insider. Oh yes! Ferus Gallery<\/a>! Oh yes – the aesthetic they created having to do with surfboards and cars! Yes, yes, I know all of that. I am totally an expert.<\/p>\n

In 2007, I flew to Taos to see a retrospective of Dean Stockwell’s work – and met the man himself. I wrote about that trip, and all things Stockwell, in the piece I wrote for House Next Door<\/a>. I would love to get out there again to see Hopper’s show. Stockwell, of course, is represented in the work on exhibit – and just look at the picture of those guys in the article! What a bunch of hot old coots. Awesome.<\/p>\n

Speaking of Stockwell:<\/p>\n

Over a year ago ago, at the height of my Dean Stockwell obsession, I went to a yoga\/writing workshop with a group of artists. It was an amazing day. Afterwards, I rode the subway downtown with one of the guys who had been at the workshop. We had a nice conversation. First, we were just talking about the workshop, and the work we had done, and writing and acting. And somewhere along in there, because I can’t help myself when I’m obsessed with something, I casually mentioned Quantum Leap<\/i>. I know it was along the lines of, “You know, sometimes it’s hard to get down to work. All I want to do is sit around and watch episodes of Quantum Leap<\/i>.” This struck him almost completely still for a second – and then he said, “Did you just say Quantum Leap<\/i>?” I started laughing, “Yes – I’m obsessed …” and he said, “God, I LOVED that show – I can’t believe you just referenced Quantum Leap<\/i>!!” We were guffawing on the subway and we spent the rest of the ride (it was a long subway ride, the workshop had been way up town) reminiscing about Quantum Leap<\/i>. It was one of those perfect moments of hilarity mixed with sincerity that you sometimes get with a total stranger. You know, you don’t want to walk around being a giant GEEK, but when some girl you’ve never met casually mentions Quantum Leap<\/i>, it means you are in a free enough environment that you can become the biggest geek on the planet because OBVIOUSLY she will not judge you. It was such a fun conversation. We parted with a hug, still laughing about the Quantum Leap<\/i> conversation.<\/p>\n

Last night I went to a show and he was there. I haven’t seen him since that subway ride in 2007. After the show, I went up to him and said, “Hi – we’ve met before.” He looked confused, trying to place me. I said, “We were both at that yoga workshop – ” More confusion. “You know – the one that mixes yoga with writing …” The light dawned on him, and he said, all excited, “Quantum Leap<\/i>!!!”<\/p>\n

It always pays to just be yourself in any interaction you have with another human being.<\/p>\n

Maybe someone won’t “get it”, and maybe someone will judge you. That’s okay. Not everyone will understand, and you won’t hit the bullseye with everyone. But you might as well just be yourself, because if you DON’T, then you won’t have the opportunity to actually connect.<\/p>\n

The fact that he remembered that conversation was so so funny to me. We both just burst out laughing AGAIN about it.<\/p>\n

“You remember that??” I was laughing.<\/p>\n

“Are you kidding me? It’s not every day that someone brings up your favorite most geekiest show from your past – that was so awesome.”<\/p>\n

“Is Quantum Leap<\/i> on Netflix??” he asked me, figuring I would probably know the answer.<\/p>\n

I love it. I don’t even know the man. In 2007 we had one conversation. But we were able to quantum-leap over the intervening time, and get right back to the point where we had left off.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s a really interesting interview with Dennis Hopper about an art show he is curating at a gallery in Taos, featuring six long-time Taos artists (Dean Stockwell included). Interesting take from Hopper on the art scene, what he’s working on, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,2088],"tags":[1514,66,273,2693,348],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9344"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9344"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":182332,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9344\/revisions\/182332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}