This body of work brings together the many visual influences that have shaped Struan Hopwood's practice over the years. Street art, manga, fine art, tattoo culture, illustration and realism all sit comfortably alongside one another, each contributing something different without competing for attention.
 
At first glance, the paintings appear to be assembled from torn paper, sketches and found imagery. In reality, every element has been painted by hand. The illusion of collage reflects the way ideas, experiences and influences accumulate over time. Individually they are fragments. Together they become something complete.
Throughout the series, loose ballpoint-style drawings sit beside highly rendered realism. Graphic colour fields interrupt detailed portraiture. Raw marks meet refined painting. Rather than settling into a single visual language, the work embraces the tension between them, allowing different styles and techniques to exist within the same composition.
 
While the paintings draw from a broad range of influences, they are ultimately about the way people are shaped. Identity is rarely straightforward. It is built gradually through memory, culture, experience and curiosity, with each layer adding to the one before it.
 
These works invite viewers to spend time looking beyond the surface. The more you notice, the more connections begin to emerge, revealing paintings that are as much about accumulation as they are about image.