Boris Hoppek @ upian – Paris

This Friday street-artist Boris Hoppek himself will present his latest pieces for the first time in Paris at the upian artspace in the exhibition “Since1989“. You probably know Hoppek from his Bimbo Dolls series, expressive cloth figures which were featured in Übersee 1 and Pictoplasma 2 (and used by several advertisers).

Rather than approach his art theoretically, Hoppek simply does what he likes to do. This method gives all of his work an aura of childlike authenticity

Boris Hoppek’s work is rooted in urban culture, in the here and now. But Boris Hoppek can’t be reduced to the typical graffiti artist. Yes, graffiti is one of the roots of its work. But his work, his declarations, his techniques and the material he works with are too various and too complex too be labelled as belonging to that genre. Often described nice, cute or lovely, his work is not intended to be decorative, and even less to be liked. Politically incorrect, Hoppek’s imagery tells stories based on taboos, such as violence, racism, prostitution or pornography. Despite its beauty and claimed innocence, the body of work of Boris Hoppek achieves an unrivaled combination of cute and ugly.

setting up

Boris was born in Kreuztal, Germany in 1970. He wanted to study art but wasn’t accepted at art school. In the early nineties he started to graffiti the streets and his art has continued developing ever since. His first bimbo doll appeared in 2002 and, thanks to an advert from the german car manufacturer opel, his audience multiplied incalculably overnight (including us).