Michael Scott Hodgkins Obituary

Michael Scott Hodgkins, in his obituary said that he was “true explorers of life”. His paintings were highly sought after and he was the first British artist to exhibit them in Paris. He was also a trustee of Tate and National Gallery, and won many awards.

He had dropped out of New York University two years before Woodstock and subsequently opened his own ‘head shop’. He eventually moved to upstate New York, where he became friends with Artie Cornfeld. He also made many friends along the way, including Jack White and Michael Jackson. While performing at Woodstock, he became involved in the ‘head-to-head’ scene.

Hodgkin was able to paint the intimate format he had used before, after the influence of the abstract expressionists. He produced up to nine or ten photographs per year. He was thirty years old when he first had a solo show, at the prestigious Arthur Tooth Gallery in London. He was invited to exhibit at Oxford’s Museum of Modern Art in 1976. He cultivated his style, becoming more mature and tolerant of the influence of his contemporaries. He was averse to easel painting but he eventually accepted it as art.

His attorney claimed that his client was a law-abiding American. However, he described him as a “self-defendant”, who volunteered at a food pantry and was an Eagle Scout. He wore a Trump 2020 T shirt inside the Senate and had his eye goggles on. At one point, he took a selfie with a shaman, while other rioters stood behind him.