Boris Hoppek

Boris Hoppek is a German artist based in Barcelona. In the early 1990s he headed the introduction of figurative elements into the graffiti scene. Since then he has continually decontextualised iconographic figures and taken them to a level of abstraction that allows him to address explicit political issues such as immigration, racism, violence and sexuality. This interest also dominates his photographic work, which is pornography with a peculiar twist, in which women are always one step away from being treated entirely as objects.

The variety of Boris Hoppek's work is limitless: he draws quickly with a reduced line and uses carefully selected colours to create his own universe of characters with a very specific and often drastic visual language. The cuteness of his toys contrasts sharply with the radical nature of the themes the artist addresses: violence, sexuality, racism and oppression. Hoppek is neither concerned with political correctness or provocation: he simply shows what he sees and what he wants us to see in paintings, photographs, sculptures and installations that are characterised by their sincerity, freshness and agility.

A prominent graffiti artist since the late 1980s, he has taken his unique urban approach to the highest level and brought it into art galleries and our homes. In recent years he has exhibited his work to great success in galleries, museums and art festivals around the world.