“Biker Couple in a Bar.” Photo Copyright Dennis Hopper

Dennis Hopper has always been more than just an actor. The screen legend, whose health has fallen in recent years due to a battle with cancer, is also an accomplished photographer and painter. Now his art may finally be getting the recognition it deserves — an exhibition of Hopper’s work will be shown at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles beginning in July.

Curated by Hopper’s close friend, painter and film director Julian Schnabel, the exhibit is called “Art is Life” and will feature the actor’s intimate photographic portraits of celebrities like Andy Warhol, Paul Newman and Tina Turner, as well as abstract expressionist paintings, sculptures, and special installations inspired by some of his most notable films. The exhibit seeks to show Hopper as a gifted artist, on all fronts.

“The American art world often likes to put artists into boxes,” MOCA director Jeffrey Deitch told the LA Times. “You’re an artist, not a filmmaker. You’re a photographer, not a painter. But Dennis shows you can blur those boundaries.”

Much of Hopper’s work in photography emerged during the ’60s, a decade in between his roles in Rebel Without a Cause with James Dean and Easy Rider with Jack Nicholson that found him snubbed by Hollywood because of his bad-boy reputation. But after receiving his first camera as a gift, he found photography to be a life line.

“I never made a cent from these photos. They cost me money but kept me alive,” Hopper would say later. “They were the only creative outlet I had for these years until Easy Rider. “

Now, after a half-century on the big screen, Hopper’s other art is finally getting its turn in the spotlight. Unfortunately the legendary actor, who turns 74 next month, is currently suffering from terminal prostate cancer. The exhibit’s creators say they have put the presentation together quickly so that Hopper can participate.

“We’re rushing this exhibition because Dennis is ailing,” Deitch said, “and I wanted him to be able to participate in the selection of works.”

Dennis Hopper’s “Life is Art” is scheduled to open at LA’s MOCA on July 11.