In more recent times, director Sam Mendes spoke at length in a 2002 interview about the inspiration he finds in Hopper’s scenes: “Compositionally, Hopper constantly ensures that your imaginary eye is guided off the frame of the picture.You begin to imagine what’s on either side of the frame. In other words, what’s impor tant is off camera.”This insight was echoed by Finn Blythe, in an editorial for Hero magazine: “Just as the power of Hopper’s paintings lies in what he chooses to exclude, so the tension and spectacle in Hitchcock’s Rear Window relies on what is obscured or unseen.” Myatt’s insight into Hopper’s modus operandi lends its own flavour to the deciphering of his work. John asser ts: “Hopper places the actors on the stage, but it is up to the viewer to write the script.Your personal interpretation of the ‘story’ in the painting – what has just happened, what will happen next? – is up to you. There are no clues within the painting to answer such questions.You must formulate your own opinions.” Despite fastidious research into the artist and his working practice, Myatt does not allow himself to be constrained by Hopper’s methodology. Comparing himself to an actor immersing himself in a role, he says
he climbs into the mind of his chosen artist to adopt, rather than copy, their technique. In a 2005 interview with the Guardian newspaper, John explained: “I try to get the artist’s work to hypnotise me. I also surround myself with lots of books. I like to know everything…where he was, what he was doing… when he was painting.”We see this clearly in the use of light – another key component in delivering the staged, cinematic scenes that exemplify his style. Myatt explains: “In this series, most of the paintings are lit by ar tificial light, which is not true of Hopper as a whole, but emphasises the quality that I was hoping to bring out of my versions of his paintings.” Whether or not John Myatt’s paintings challenge perceived ideas of what ‘real’ works of ar t are, they cer tainly challenge many of the assumptions that underlie the theory and practice of connoisseurship. Traditionally, the value and authenticity of an artwork lies safely and resolutely in the hands of the critic, the auction house or the professor. In so famously duping these so called ‘exper ts’, Myatt has not only added another dimension to the increasingly indistinct boundary between the real and its copy, but stripped the purpose of painting back to its purest form: a visual example of talent and beauty.
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