European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 10, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Photography a amps Ron Jensen Dennis Hopper then and now. Peter Fonda and Hopper in a scene from Quot easy rider Quot right. Hopper above meets the press in Furth. A file photos paintings by a compulsive creator at Furth exhibits amps Ron Jensen Johannes Willms interviews Hopper on German television. By Ron Jensen Nurnberg Bureau Dennis Hopper was having a Good time Friday in Furth Germany where an exhibition of his photographs and paintings opened for a five week run. A questioner asked the actor director writer artist Why do you paint he replied Quot because i Nave  when he was asked Why he was hooked on drugs and alcohol for so Many years the now clean and sober Hopper said Quot i liked  and when informed that Henry Kissinger was born in Furth Hopper quickly asked Quot could t you have kept him Here Quot but the creating Force behind movies such As easy rider and colors is dead serious about his Art a All of his Art. Quot i am a compulsive creator Quot he said. He makes no distinction Between writing directing and acting in movies painting on Canvas taking photographs or writing poetry. Quot i consider All those things one thing. They Are just creating Quot he said. Hopper 56, seemed a bit Haggard As he began a news conference that was followed by a Public discussion taped for German television in the Furth City theater prior to the exhibition s formal opening. But he quickly warmed to his subject and displayed a remarkable knowledge of Art tossing around names from the world of Art with ease and discussing the development of modern Art with a Learned Comfort. But As he explained Art has always been a passion for him. Quot some people Are Beach bums. Some people Are Tennis bums Quot he said. Quot in a a gallery bum. I was always in  he was an Early supporter and fan of Andy Warhol he said and bought one of the late artist s first Campbell s soup can paintings for $50. But mention Hopper s name and several images come to mind All of them from his films. There is the Long haired bearded rebel Riding alongside Peter Fonda in easy rider a film that still somewhat defines albeit simplistically the sixties. Apocalypse now a 1979 film that turned the Vietnam War into a drug induced surrealistic Nightmare featured Hopper As an off Center photojournalist. And there is an image from Many years later that of the sadistic dope and sex fiend in Blue velvet in 1986. Hopper s Public image is not far from those cinematic ones. Fie was for years a drug abuser and hard drinking alcoholic an unt Amable Flolly Wood rebel who made himself unemployable. It is that image perhaps that brought a mostly Young audience to his Public discussion Many of them Only Grade school age or younger when easy rider debuted. Now however nine years removed from his last drink of alcohol and 10 years distanced from drugs Hopper is a pleasant Calm Man who seemed a bit uncomfortable in the spotlight but still glad to be where he was. He explained his substance abuse As part of his compulsive creativity that he thought it was necessary to abuse something in order to create. Quot most of the creative people i know were drug addicts and alcoholics Quot he said. Quot my heroes were drug addicts and  Fie mentioned Painter Vincent an Gogh musicians Charlie Parker and James Brown actors John Barrymore and . Fields writer Edgar Allan Poe. Fie recalled Reading Van Gogh explain that it took a summer of hard drinking for him to discover yellow. Quot i did t know he was looking for the tube of paint Quot Hopper joked. Hopper admitted that his abuse nearly killed him As it has so Many others. Such a death is far from heroic he said. Quot John Barrymore was drinking perfume on some yacht somewhere i mean my god Quot he said. Job offers stopped coming during the lowest Point of his abuse he said but his creativity continued. Quot i Don t want to promote alcohol and drugs but there is a moment where alcohol and drugs work Quot he said. Whatever it is that they momentarily unlock provides the artist with a Brief inspiration he said. But the abuse will eventually overpower the abuser and the creativity shrivel. The Black and White photographs and painted canvases on display in Furth Are part of an exhibit of work from Hopper and Warhol that is now touring Europe. His work was pulled out temporarily for this exhibit. He photographed from 1961 until 1967, he said when he put Down his camera to begin writing and directing easy rider. He never picked it up again. Some familiar faces Are found in his work. There is Peter Fonda standing before a cartoon likeness of Edward g. Robinson. Warhol is there. So Are James Brown John Wayne and Dean Martin. And the Byrds and Ike and Tina Turner. But other photos Are simply images such As decaying advertisements painted on Walls or the shattered Windshield of a car following a Harlem riot. Quot at that time my Only outlet of creativity was the camera. I took my camera everywhere Quot he said. Quot they used to say of Here comes the tourist Quot the paintings Are More contemporary. He began painting in the 1950s, but a fire 4 stripes Magazine december 10, 1992