We all feel melancholic at times.  Especially those of us who entered the Middle Ages might miss the feeling of young impulsive love—letting a moment take you wherever, enjoying it, and just rolling with it—the romantic and sexy relationship we may have had with our destructiveness in pursuit of freedom. The interest in discovery and the search for identity, the allowance for irresponsibility, and the true belief that the best is still ahead of you.  HOPLA believes this may be true for both our members and our organization: the best is still ahead of us.  We wish to announce that Amjad and Herrlander are each in the process of writing their own first novels. Just like Raymour vs. Flanigan, one has to be better than the other. Herrlander feels sure his book will be the best, so does Amjad. Amjad may be right, but the same goes for Herrlander.  See you on HOPLA’s 2027 book tour. Shout out to Bradley Cooper, who made a self-help film with Lady Gaga and managed to stop drinking. He even got Brad Pitt to stop—can you imagine?  Stay curious friends.

Malcolm Af Donner (Based in Helsinki, FI) Imagine one of your paintings gains consciousness overnight, what’s the first thing it accuses you of? - Probably of being dastardly good looking! But on a more serious note maybe of being a bit anxious, instead of just letting loose! If you were stranded on a desert island with a famous artist, dead or alive, who do you wish it were and why? - Maybe Robert Smithson because he would be very good at arranging rocks so they would spell out SOS. If someone who knows you very well looked at your work, what would they recognize immediately that a stranger wouldn’t? - This one is a bit difficult to answer. One thing would maybe be my interest for archaeology and history although that is quite in the open. Something else I have heard people that I know talking about is all the little things going on in the paintings, all the different details and that there might be some hidden meaning there… Does your drive stem from a place, like trauma or anger or is it a more joyous place? - Don’t know really, I think it might be from stubbornness maybe, and also a kind of curiosity about all kinds of things. And art can be a great vessel for exploration where you set up your own limits. I’m also curious about the simple fact of what something is going to look like when you are in the process of painting. Today you have a lot of aids in terms of photography and different digital tools but you still have this element of chance in painting that can be quite exciting, and maybe especially so in painting with watercolours. You are currently in the phase of painting with watercolors and bananas keep on appearing in many of your recent works, what can you share about that? - Well that’s for me to know and you to find out! (DM if you are interested in being featured in HOPLA Artist Appreciation Infinitive)

I left a candy fair in Anaheim and spoke in length about Mexico with my taxi driver that was from there on our way to LAX, it made me miss it. From the airplane window I saw Los Angeles from above, the beach, all the houses and the sea. Later the sun was setting on the red rocks of Arizona, I pledged there and then to visit it on the ground one day. I watched Pretty Women and Julia Roberts looked just like my wife Betty when we first met. To be alive is a miracle and I feel thankful.

Without YOU, HOPLA is nothing but an empty shell of love and incredible ideas, many thanks for joining us on Feb. 6th for Raymore vs. Flanigan The show brought together handmade rugs and large-scale photographs as if they were artifacts from a recently vanished civilization. A speculative anthropological study, thinking and negotiating in cycles, not events. HOPLA was born when two friends tore down their defenses and chose vulnerability, what we call sharing your black diamond. We’ve stayed true to that in everything. The art, the message, the product. By trade, we’re salesmen. That’s real. And part of the work has been pushing against the traditional art world, bypassing gatekeepers, galleries, and inherited pathways to make something honest and lived. As men of God, we try to move with gratitude and love. We don’t shy away from anger. It comes from the same place. To care is the first step and beginning of everything. Thank you to Nikhil Shah for your contribution. If you want to build with HOPLA, come find us. The door is open. For artwork inquiries, DM us. There are still a few strong pieces left. There’s more coming. Always. And you’re already invited. — HOPLA

RAYMOUR VS FLANIGAN TOMORROW 1 NIGHT ONLY 77 FULTON STREET TJ BYRNES 6PM - 2AM HOPLA, the artistic collaboration founded by Bilal Amjad and Max E. Barnes Herrlander, is pleased to announce Raymour vs. Flanigan, a site-specific, one-night exhibition. The event will take place on February 6, 2026, from 6:00 PM to Midnight at TJ Byrnes in Lower Manhattan. Exhibition Concept Staged inside a working restaurant, Raymour vs. Flanigan presents handmade rugs and photographs as if they were artifacts recovered from a "recently vanished civilization". Framed as a speculative anthropological study, the project reimagines early 20th-century Western consumer culture through domestic objects and environments of comfort. By bypassing traditional gallery contexts in favor of TJ Byrnes, the exhibition uses the restaurant’s existing atmosphere and cultural memory as active participants in the work. The site-specific installation collapses the boundary between everyday life and formal exhibition, questioning what remains when a civilization's branding and material language outlive their original moment. #hopla #raymourvsflanigan

HOPLA, the artistic collaboration founded by Bilal Amjad and Max E. Barnes Herrlander, is pleased to announce Raymour vs. Flanigan, a site-specific, one-night exhibition. The event will take place on February 6, 2026, from 6:00 PM to Midnight at TJ Byrnes in Lower Manhattan. Exhibition Concept Staged inside a working restaurant, Raymour vs. Flanigan presents handmade rugs and photographs as if they were artifacts recovered from a "recently vanished civilization". Framed as a speculative anthropological study, the project reimagines early 20th-century Western consumer culture through domestic objects and environments of comfort. By bypassing traditional gallery contexts in favor of TJ Byrnes, the exhibition uses the restaurant’s existing atmosphere and cultural memory as active participants in the work. The site-specific installation collapses the boundary between everyday life and formal exhibition, questioning what remains when a civilization's branding and material language outlive their original moment. #hopla #Beckerman

Hi Bilal, Thanks, but this is not for me. Not at all. S. HOPLA, the artistic collaboration founded by Bilal Amjad and Max E. Barnes Herrlander, is pleased to announce Raymour vs. Flanigan, a site-specific, one-night exhibition. The event will take place on February 6, 2026, from 6:00 PM to Midnight at TJ Byrnes in Lower Manhattan. Exhibition Concept Staged inside a working restaurant, Raymour vs. Flanigan presents handmade rugs and photographs as if they were artifacts recovered from a "recently vanished civilization". Framed as a speculative anthropological study, the project reimagines early 20th-century Western consumer culture through domestic objects and environments of comfort. By bypassing traditional gallery contexts in favor of TJ Byrnes, the exhibition uses the restaurant’s existing atmosphere and cultural memory as active participants in the work. The site-specific installation collapses the boundary between everyday life and formal exhibition, questioning what remains when a civilization's branding and material language outlive their original moment. #hopla #beckerman

HOPLA, the artistic collaboration founded by Bilal Amjad and Max E. Barnes Herrlander, is pleased to announce Raymour vs. Flanigan, a site-specific, one-night exhibition. The event will take place on February 6, 2026, from 6:00 PM to Midnight at TJ Byrnes in Lower Manhattan. Exhibition Concept Staged inside a working restaurant, Raymour vs. Flanigan presents handmade rugs and photographs as if they were artifacts recovered from a "recently vanished civilization". Framed as a speculative anthropological study, the project reimagines early 20th-century Western consumer culture through domestic objects and environments of comfort. By bypassing traditional gallery contexts in favor of TJ Byrnes, the exhibition uses the restaurant’s existing atmosphere and cultural memory as active participants in the work. The site-specific installation collapses the boundary between everyday life and formal exhibition, questioning what remains when a civilization's branding and material language outlive their original moment.