If you love pop culture, then your heart will burst with excitement when you see Henry J Fuller’s artwork. On March 24th, his #DopeArt2 exhibit opened at Hofstra University’s student run FORM Gallery, and even though I couldn’t make it, I can imagine how much everyone loved the paintings.

#DopeArt2 is the sequel to Fuller’s #DopeArt exhibit featured in FORM Gallery during the Fall 2013 semester. #DopeArt focused more on the male Hip-Hop scene, while #DopeArt2 lends a hand to some of the leading ladies in the music industry. The exhibit includes paintings of Miley Cyrus, Beyonce, Nicki Minaj, and Rihanna. Also thrown into the mix are portraits of Michael Jordan, and a scene from the popular television series Breaking Bad.

I was lucky enough to catch up with the artist behind all this pop culture magic a few days after #DopeArt2‘s opening reception.

Me: What was your inspiration for this exhibit? 

Henry Jordan Fuller: My inspiration for #DopeArt2 was the introduction to my #DopeArtDivas collection. In my first #DopeArt exhibit I mainly focused on male Hip-Hop artists with a lot of tattoos as well as top name male Hip-Hop artists in the industry. So for my 2nd showcase, I kind of wanted to focus on popular females in the industry as well as expand the size of my canvases from 18×24 to 24×36.

Me: How long did it take to finish each painting?

HJF: Usually it takes me at least a week to do a painting, but my showcase was pushed forward a whole month, so I did six out of seven of the #DopeArt2 collection within 2 weeks, each taking between 1-3 days.

Me: What is your favorite part of the exhibition process?

HJF: My favorite part of the exhibition process is creating detailed portraits of popular celebrities that can easily catch any onlookers attention.

Me: Which painting is your favorite?

HJF: By far my favorite portrait of my whole #DopeArt2 collection is my 36×48 Breaking Bad portrait entitled “Scavenger Hunt”. Breaking Bad is my favorite show, and I really enjoyed creating this piece.

“Scavenger Hunt”

Me: How did you come up with such cool titles for your paintings?

HJF: All of my titles were added on last minute, but I just wanted to create catchy titles that fit both the painting as well as the artists’ careers. The [Michael Jackson portrait’s] title “I Got my J’s Tho” is just a popular saying among sneaker collectors. All of my titles were thought of last minute.

Me: Will you be selling and/or have you sold any of these paintings? If so, for how much? 

HJF: The only portrait from this collection that I’ve sold is my “I Got my J’s Tho” Michael Jordan portrait, and that was for $700, which is my highest selling painting thus far. I do a lot of commissions, so I’m not in a rush to get rid of these portraits, but I do plan to sell for around the same, with the exception of my “Scavenger Hunt” Breaking Bad portrait which I would like $1300 for.

Me: Anything else you’d like to add?

HJF: Follow me on Instagram to keep up with my latest artwork @kinghpromo & @dopeart___

Be sure to follow Henry J Fuller on Twitter to stay up to date on what he’s working on!