Roger Hopgood

Roger Hopgood completed his MA at the Slade School of Art in 1985.

His work over the years has largely been associated with landscape and the ways in which landscape is often used to express ideas of heritage and cultural identity.

In the series “And The There Were None”, however, such concerns have shifted away from the ‘natural’ environment.

The images focus on country house interiors that seem to conjure up an atmosphere of intrigue and malice.

The title of the series, And Then There Were None, is taken from an Agatha Christie novel and the pervading mood in the work seems to convey the idea that something untoward has occurred in this very English setting. Yet despite the concentration on interior space it would be untrue to suggest that Hopgood has shifted entirely away from landscape.

A principal concern of his recent work has been the Picturesque, an aesthetic movement that emerged in the late 18th century that in the main was the concern of the affluent and educated.

Around this time the gardens of many country houses were modelled to provide picturesque effect for those observing from the vantage point of the terraces and upper windows. With this in mind we can see the work in a different light: throughout the series landscapes are glimpsed here and there through windows and referenced through an assortment of decorative objects. One might also say that the external space is alluded to through the emphasis placed on light flooding into the rooms and illuminating the textures of the furnishings and artefacts.

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