DENNIS HOPPER SHOW IN L.A.

Hopper also helped Schnabel make his first movie, "Basquiat," by agreeing to play a small role, Swiss art dealer Bruno Bischofberger. "He did me a favor — he was the first actor to sign on to do the movie, so other actors were more comfortable doing it," Schnabel said. Schnabel by this point sat in the show's central gallery, the heart of the show. He has stacked more than 150 photographs by Hopper in rhythmic groupings on angled walls, which in some sections look like film strips and altogether feel like a big photo collage."A typical museum curator might not feel comfortable taking this kind of liberty with the artwork," Deitch said. "It takes an artist like Julian, who really shared Dennis' sensibility."Schnabel sees the grouping as an expansive, inclusive Whitman-esque portrait of America from California to New York — "actors mixed with painters, Hells Angels mixed with Freedom Riders, Martin Luther King mixed with bullfighters."Bringing together the high and low, famous and forgettable, beautiful and ugly, has a Beat feel to it, added Schnabel, who offered that the entire show could have been called "On the Road."

L.A Times
July 10 2010