Chair Paintings

"An empty chair is never really empty, memories always sit there", Carl Hopgood 

Hopgood’s fascination with abandoned chairs dates back 25 years when he started working as a prop stylist in London while also creating art he collected and photographed abandoned chairs from the curbside  and charity shops over the years for various fashion photo shoots for fashion magazines such as Vogue, Harpers Bazaar and Elle. 

The interest with chairs was revisited during the lockdown and he saw through the windows of shuttered bars and restaurants chairs and stools stacked up in the windows It was like a ghost town and he wanted to turn that pain into positive.

This body of work took the form of canvas painting on linen and neon chair assemblages. The paintings also reference Chair Therapy a technique of self help Hopgood uses whereby the person imagines ones younger self seated in that chair and words of affirmation are spoken to the imaginary child.