exhibition

John 'Hoppy' Hopkins: Against Tyranny - Talking About a Revolutionary

19.Jun.09 - 19.Jul.09
Mon - Fri 10-6, Sat and Sun 12-5

Screening, 16.Jul.09, 6:30pm to 8:30pm

Idea Generation Gallery
11 Chance Street
London E2 7JB
020 7749 6850
galleryassistant@ideageneration.co.uk
www.ideageneration.co.uk
Tube Old Street, Liverpool Street, Shoreditch / Hoxton

Encompassing both the grand scale of mass rallies and the squalid intimacy of bedsit and backrooms of freaks, tearaways and bohemians, these electrifying images act as a record of 1960s London on the cusp of a new era, as the city shaped up for the struggle to redefine itself as a modern metropolis.

It was an exhilarating time and Hoppy was both protagonist and observer in the story, at the vanguard of a generation whic broke radically with a conservative past. Founder of legendary psychedelic night club, UFO; co-founder of radical underground newspaper, The International Times; and photographer for Melody Maker, The Times and Peace News, he was well placed to record the revolution as it unfolded. This exhibition will uniquely feature rare coppies of the International Times, and stunning psychedelic posters designed by Nigel Weymouth for the UFO.

Spanning a period of intense photographic activity, Hoppy's images pull no punches and show an empire in decliine, under attack from an unprecendented and rampant sub-cultural revolution that came roaring in from the shadows. Charged shots of Anti-Nuclear Rallies, Beat Poetry Performances, LSD Sessions and East End slums are born of an uncompromising belief in the transformative power of political activism, counter-culture and photography.