Dennis Hopper honorarium and awards ceremony

31 Jul, 2009 5:35 pm by admin in 2009 Highlights, vips

Hosted by Emmy winner Bryan Cranston, the AFF Awards Ceremony will feature Dennis Hopper, an Albuquerque resident, who will receive a lifetime achievement award for his work on films such as “Easy Rider”.

Todd Scalise and Joe Spear are artists in Santa Fe that have come together in collaboration to design the Dennis Hopper Lifetime Achievement Award to be presented at this year’s Albuquerque Independent Film Festival. The design of the award is highly unique and portrays Dennis Hopper’s contribution to Independent Film. Spray paint cans and camera lenses are cast in bronze and then fused together in a Tetradecagon (14-sided shape) as an artistic expression for ‘independence’. Dennis Hopper has collected cutting-edge art for a number of decades and this award will be a perfect fit for his already elaborate collection of American art.

Todd Scalise is an artist and designer in Santa Fe with a passion for applying his vision onto almost anything. Developing an application for art is the basis of Todd’s professional work. Since studying painting in Rome during the early nineties, Todd has created and exhibited an elaborate body of work. His work has been selected to hang in the Andy Warhol Museum, The Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, and a number of galleries in New York City. Todd’s designs have appeared in several national magazines such as The Progressive for Howard Zinn, Juxtapoz, and Parade Magazine. Recently, Todd appeared on the six week TV mini-series, Best Life Ever, to talk about his unique approach to making and marketing his designs. Todd has served in higher education as a Professor of Art and Design for institutions in Pennsylvania and New Mexico and has distinguished himself by receiving two Heinz Endowments. Currently, Todd exhibits large-scale paintings, creates eye-catching artwork for his clients, and designs highly collectable art rugs that cleverly blur the line between art and design.
www.toddscalise.com

Joe Spear was born in Philadelphia and received his BFA in Sculpture from Tyler School of Art. Geometric sensibilities arising from a childhood passion for origami characterizes his sculptural aesthetic. Spear starts the majority of his sculptures as paper models. These forms are then scaled up onto wax sheets and folded or cut into sheet metal to be manipulated by hand. Through his intimate knowledge of the beautiful geometry intrinsic in origami, Spear is a part of an artistic linage using expression to point out the positive aspects of life.

www.metalorigami.com