The Colorado Mesa University Department of Art and Design announced the presentation of nationally known artist Mathew Hopson-Walker and his exhibition Poverty is the Muscle of War.
Housed in the CMU art gallery in downtown Grand Junction, Colorado, the exhibition features works from Hopson-Walker’s Empire Valley series. In this series, Hopson-Walker draws on childhood memories of the city where he grew up. Hopson-Walker recalls driving down the freeway to “see mountains of used tires, appliance
Taking inspiration from both personal and universal imagery, he creates complex montages of
seemingly unrelated imagery, bizarre dreamscapes and imagined creatures using various
printmaking techniques, sometimes in the same work.
Matthew Hopson-Walker is an assistant professor of printmaking at Fresno State University in
Fresno, California. He received his BFA in Printmaking at the Kansas City Art Institute, and
his MA and MFA from the University of Iowa in 2002 and 2003. He has been included in
222 juried shows or group exhibitions and 14 solo shows since 2006. He has
collections including the Franklin Furnace Artist Book Collection at the Museum of Modern
Art in New York, the University of North Dakota Art Collections in Grand Forks North
Dakota, the Amity Art Foundation in Woodbridge Connecticut, the Stonehouse Residency
for the Contemporary Arts in Miramonte California, the Drawing and Print Collection at The
University of Iowa Museum Of Art and the Tama Art University Museum in Tokyo, Japan.
CMU’s art gallery is located at 437 Colorado Avenue in Grand Junction, Colorado.
Gallery hours are Monday through Saturday 12-5pm. Admission is free.
On Friday, October 5 from 5-8pm there will be a public reception to view the exhibit and meet the artist, with an artist talk scheduled for
Wine from Carlson Vineyards and beer from Palisade Brewing Company will be available for purchase at the reception. For more information, call the Department of Art & Design at 970.248.1833, or visit https://www.coloradomesa.edu/art/gallery.