By Brianna HolcombSPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
Hofstra senior Henry Fuller, fine arts major, will be presenting his third show, “Dope Art.” His artwork will be displayed in Calkins Hall from Oct. 30 to Nov. 1.
The series of hyper realistic portraits started two years ago when Henry posted a portrait of Knicks player, J.R. Smith, to Instagram, “I guess enough people tagged him in my post because he reposted my painting on his Instagram with the caption, ‘#DopeArt.’”
Since then, the hashtag has been the name of his art shows, embodying the style his style of art.
For his third show, Henry is trying to bring a different feel from each of the shows prior.
In Henry’s first ‘#DopeArt’ show, only one or two of the pieces had been seen or showcased.
In his second show, he created the theme of dope art divas that featured various female pop icons. In this show Henry wants the show to represent what he thinks of as dope art, “All of the paintings in this show are much bigger than my previous show’s paintings and I also incorporated a bit of graffiti into the mix.”
The portraits displayed in the showcase resemble a realistic portrait of chosen famous individuals. The colors and graffiti used to create the portraits make them appealing to the eye.
Looking at Henry’s art, it is easy to see the artistic talent he possesses and the care he puts into his work. His pieces represent the time we live in and the icons that have shaped it.
The portrait featuring hip-hop artist, Wiz Khalifa, looks similar to an album cover that could be used by the artist. The classic smoke that is found around Wiz’s head in the portrait resembles the smoke face that can be found on his album, “Rolling Papers.”
Each portrait embodies aspects of the artists’ character found in their music or album covers. Many of the pieces look as though Henry sat down with the artist and created a personal piece for them.
Like any aspiring artist, Henry has goals for the pieces he creates and the amount of people viewing them.
Through his artwork, he wishes for his name to become synonymous with greatness. This dream applies to not only painting, but graphic design, video editing and drawing. No matter the template, Henry wants his audience “to view with [their] eyes, not [their] brain, ‘#DopeArt.’”