MATTHEW HOPKINS

As guitarist for psychedelic punk outfit Naked on the Vague, Matthew Hopkins trades in distortion and discordia, a kind of fried-out scuzziness that can be impenetrable for even the most avid garage fan. As visual artist, the aesthetic seems much the same: abject absurdism and ample doses of the word that most often crops up on his website, weird. The focus of his work at Gallery 9 is heads, but not in the kindly way you might imagine a series of loving portraits. Dismembered and cartoonish, the heads here are more Ren & Stimpy grotesquerie with eyebrows ominously sliding off brows, strange little teeth protruding out of fleshy lips. In one room sound/video installation Hypnagogic Reconstruction #1 – Heads recreates the artist’s experience of lucid dreaming to a soundtrack by long-time collaborator Jonathan Hochman, while in another stubby little face sculptures futilely hold one pencil apiece. All in all, it’s a dark yet deftly droll study of existential crises and the difficulties of self-identification.

Until Apr 16, Gallery 9, 9 Darley St, Darlinghurst, 9380 9909, gallery9.com.au