Mead Carney

Mead Carney Gallery and The Dennis Hopper Trust take pleasure in presenting 'Lost Angels', an exhibition of 1960's photographs from the archive of the legendary Hollywood actor and photographer Dennis Hopper alongside a series of new works by California based artist Russell Young.

Through the exploration of Hopper’s work and the ethos of the ‘American dream’ and its often dark side, Young has discovered within the Dennis Hopper Art Trust’s archives a small strip of photographic negatives from the early 1960's that had previously been neglected. The images demonstrate how Hopper had encapsulated the lifestyle of the renowned Hells Angels in 1960's California. These iconic series of photographs were taken as a result of a chance meeting that Hopper had with the controversial motorcycle group. It is these powerful images that have inspired Young’s new series of works.

Young invites us to look at these now virtually extinct 'renegades of the road' in a new way. His juxtaposition of colour and composition creates a montage of movement and energy, punctuated only by the occasional cool posturing of youth, in a time when America celebrated individuality - naively unaware of the shadow to be cast by the impending Vietnam War. In an increasingly homogenised world these 'Lost Angels', seen through the lens of Hopper and translated by Young in his signature California colours, provide the viewer with a poignant reminder of a time when youth represented hope.

Several years ago, Russell Young met Dennis Hopper while on a film set in Los Angeles, where they spent an afternoon musing on modern American society, photography and filmography, as well as their life philosophy. It was this strong affinity between the two artists’ work that The Hopper Art Trust believed would make Young a great ambassador to carry forward the mantle of Hopper's legacy to a new generation of art lovers.
Alongside Young’s works, Mead Carney Gallery is delighted that The Dennis Hopper Art Trust will present a selection of specially-printed negatives taken by Dennis Hopper between 1961- 1967 currently exhibited at The Royal Academy Of Arts, London in the form of a special edition for sale.