HOPPER, Dennis. Los Angeles Now. Larry Bell, Wallace Berman, Jess Collins, Bruce Conner, Llyn Foulkes, Dennis Hopper, Craig Kauffman, Ed Ruscha. London: Robert Fraser Gallery, 1966.

(HOPPER, Dennis).
Los Angeles Now. Larry Bell, Wallace Berman, Jess Collins, Bruce Conner, Llyn Foulkes, Dennis Hopper, Craig Kauffman, Ed Ruscha.
London: Robert Fraser Gallery, 1966.

4to (280 × 208 mm), title leaf on blue paper, introductory text by John Coplans on red paper, 8 leaves on a heavier stock printed rectos only with black-and-white photographs by Dennis Hopper of each of the artists or their artworks. Black-and-white photo-illustrated card covers, bound with a clear plastic sliding spine; a little wear. Near-fine.

First edition, issued to accompany the landmark exhibition of Ferus artists at Robert ‘Groovy Bob’ Fraser’s Gallery in London, January 31 - February 19, 1966. It was Ed Ruscha’s first European exhibition, and he recalls that Fraser had visited him at his studio and bought a number of drawings that were then sold to John Lennon. ‘I was just floored that someone from so far away would come and buy my work’, he said. Yet, he had few illusions that Fraser was a businessman. ‘It wasn’t his interest. He wanted the fun and games of it, means to the end, to be in the hoopla’.

Several of the artists, including Dennis Hopper, travelled to London for the opening. Hopper was stunned by the atmosphere of London at that time, saying it was, ‘the most exciting time I’d ever seen, or have seen since’. After a few days, however he became increasingly paranoid, and started to constantly check for evidence that the FBI was following him.