brilliant
2
Correction: “Pearblossom Hwy., 11-18th April 1986, #1” was Not made from Polaroid prints. Rather they are chromogenic color prints that were made by his local 1 hour photo place in CA.
3
One of my favorite prints which has been on my walls for a long time is Hockney's fanciful "map" of Nichols Canyon in L.A. where I used to work as a trash collector back in the day. I ran an artist's source garage with junk I accumulated from my rounds. I am fully convinced that much of his work is optimistic, even in So Cal, home of disappointments galore.
1
A few years ago the Art Gallery of Ontario, and other galleries, provided an exhibition of Hockney's works created on Ipad. He would create images and send them to his friends. The gallery collected these and displayed them on Ipads. A few of them replayed his actual strokes as recorded, and the beauty of the familiar image appearing from what seemed to be randomly chosen shapes and colours was a beauty in itself. Highly recommended if the exhibiiton is ever shown again.
4
From his newest work it's clear that David Hockney is always looking at the world from a new and unexpected perspective. The multi-canvas paintings are an example, as well as those with the chopped off corners. It speaks to being a truly open-minded person, never stuck in a rut or thinking rigidly. I find that stupendously inspiring on so many levels.
3
As an exile--more than forty years--from Britain and an annual returner, I never, like Hockney, bemoan the old place. It's in my blood and will ever remain so. Chaos is what exists in places like the USA and, of course, even more so these days given who's in charge in Washington, D.C. But for the fact that my children live in the United States, I would have been back in England long ago.
1
Pearblossom Highway was not done with Polaroids. He had long moved on to a small SLR and regular photo prints by that time.
1
And 'Last Year in Marienbad'!
1
I don't think Clement Greenberg's comment would have been sarcastic. I have figurative references in my paintings and when he visited my studio in the early 1980's, he didn't tell me I should go abstract.
DH, a great artist and thinker. May he not "fall over" any time soo.
6
A man who continues to inspire, with his ideas and his work.
4
Love that he's still smoking!
4
Matisse is like Conrad's Secret Sharer. I see one striking difference, David Hockney's paintings reproduce SO well, better than Matisse even, perhaps to do with his great and life-time fascination with mechanical/digital reproduction.
Lots of great comments, especially Simon from Montana who pinpoints that combination of the programmatic, pragmatic and feeling (also non-feeling) in his art.
Great to see these new paintings with the corners cut off. They remind me of the Hogarth/Rake's progress opera sets and those Hollywood and Fellini movies he loves - they seem different from Escher in not being clinical or mathematical.
Possibly of interest to your readers, I have just 'published' 80 very short films from my five years of filming with DH: http://www.a-bigger-picture.com/films/
Lots of great comments, especially Simon from Montana who pinpoints that combination of the programmatic, pragmatic and feeling (also non-feeling) in his art.
Great to see these new paintings with the corners cut off. They remind me of the Hogarth/Rake's progress opera sets and those Hollywood and Fellini movies he loves - they seem different from Escher in not being clinical or mathematical.
Possibly of interest to your readers, I have just 'published' 80 very short films from my five years of filming with DH: http://www.a-bigger-picture.com/films/
4
Congratulations! The DH80 films are wonderfully funny and thought provoking, and they add a nicely cubist twist to A Bigger Picture and Double Portrait. (The link to #71 seems not to work though.)
So here's an interesting question: is the Visit with Christopher and Don (1984) a synthesis of Matisse's colors with the structural armature of Picasso's Guernica?
So here's an interesting question: is the Visit with Christopher and Don (1984) a synthesis of Matisse's colors with the structural armature of Picasso's Guernica?
I'm glad you like the Hockney fragments (best seen only a few at a time!).
Picasso is so steeped in the classical when DH's approach to space and architecture seem more intuitive (I'm thinking now more of his depiction of the spaces I know, like his images of Pembroke Studios and his LA house). The Matisse/Picasso colore/disegno duality is itself rather false (as demonstrated in that wonderful John Golding exhibition at Tate/MoMA), but I think in as much as DH likes to get his brain stuck into things Picasso is someone he can respond to intellectually. DH is much more reluctant to talk about the world of feeling and the same with colour: these operate I suspect at a much more unmediated and unconscious level for him, almost like channels, and so perhaps best left unscrutinised.
Picasso is so steeped in the classical when DH's approach to space and architecture seem more intuitive (I'm thinking now more of his depiction of the spaces I know, like his images of Pembroke Studios and his LA house). The Matisse/Picasso colore/disegno duality is itself rather false (as demonstrated in that wonderful John Golding exhibition at Tate/MoMA), but I think in as much as DH likes to get his brain stuck into things Picasso is someone he can respond to intellectually. DH is much more reluctant to talk about the world of feeling and the same with colour: these operate I suspect at a much more unmediated and unconscious level for him, almost like channels, and so perhaps best left unscrutinised.
1
Wonderful gift to everyone. Thank you!
1
Perhaps it was no insult when the critic said Hockney was her favorite painter -- we have had a Hockney poster hanging since our kids were babies and one day our son came home from kindergarten with his painting that echoed the colors and thick black lines similar to the LA roads in the Hockney. I hung my son's painting too. Recently, when driving with that now young adult son on Laurel Canyon Rd., it meant a great deal to both of us to be at the location inspiring an artwork that has been a part of the story of us...that evokes who we are, in part, concretely and abstractly.
The Hockney painting is one of the few paintings of any artist I know as well as the record albums I love. We all love Hockney's works...
And may there be many more!
The Hockney painting is one of the few paintings of any artist I know as well as the record albums I love. We all love Hockney's works...
And may there be many more!
4
I used to not like David Hockney, although that was decades ago and I certainly had not seen all his art. But the paintings I had seen had *not one woman* in them! As though we didn't exist! Absolutely nothing wrong w/being gay -- and I knew he was -- but I was offended!
And then I saw two pieces that made me change my mind: a lovely painting he had done of his parents; and "Pearblossom Highway" which is one of my absolute favorite works ever.
And of course in the meantime, I have seen fuller representations of his work and he's now one of my favorite modern artists. Paint on Mr Hockney!
And then I saw two pieces that made me change my mind: a lovely painting he had done of his parents; and "Pearblossom Highway" which is one of my absolute favorite works ever.
And of course in the meantime, I have seen fuller representations of his work and he's now one of my favorite modern artists. Paint on Mr Hockney!
2
And for 70 years, Hockney has very casually been the best dressed man in the world.
Thanks for the photo!
Thanks for the photo!
2
Hockney needs no defense but as one who commented here, as a non fan of his paintings, those LA paintings instantly call up a very distinct emotional place specific to LA glare. Or Palm Springs. What more is expected of an artist? Not for me but so what.
And he is probably playing with Escher and others somewhat, but mostly what I see in the reproductions found in the article is someone who can use two static dimensions so that in a glance a viewer receives a charged up four. Moving through space. That ain't easy. Escher doesn't do that.
And he is probably playing with Escher and others somewhat, but mostly what I see in the reproductions found in the article is someone who can use two static dimensions so that in a glance a viewer receives a charged up four. Moving through space. That ain't easy. Escher doesn't do that.
4
William Faulkner's ideal art was "to lift men's hearts." These beautiful, mesmerizing Hockney paintings did it for me this morning. Thanks, NYTimes, I needed that.
6
I've never thought much of David Hockney's work. To my eye, it looks more than less like the thin, undergraduate painting that are left in art school bins at the end of the year. Perhaps if he was Italian or Spanish rather than Anglo-Saxon dandy I might have made sense of it. On the other hand, once I saw Pearblossom highway, I saw it again and again. I still see it, each time I drive into the desert. So that's something, I guess.
1
Whew!
Those colors hit my eye
like dreams hit my sleep
at night
I ask myself why a painter
would make his theme
his royal blue deck
or show his audience
paintings of the same deck over and over
and I realize it is not the same deck over and over
that the painter shows
if it is Hockney
he shows it larger or smaller
or angular or rectangular,
or mellow or moody,
or bold and indomitable
or soft and coy,
it's a different deck
every single time.
Those colors hit my eye
like dreams hit my sleep
at night
I ask myself why a painter
would make his theme
his royal blue deck
or show his audience
paintings of the same deck over and over
and I realize it is not the same deck over and over
that the painter shows
if it is Hockney
he shows it larger or smaller
or angular or rectangular,
or mellow or moody,
or bold and indomitable
or soft and coy,
it's a different deck
every single time.
12
as composed and colourfully articulated as they are, the multi-perspective form is equally captured via pano
1
Having just returned an hour ago from the Hockney retrospective at the Pompidou Center I find it rather surprising no mention is made in this article of the retrospective that is on enhibit at this very moment. It is a terrific show that highlights the developmemt of Mr. Hockney's styles and the varied influences upon Him- whether Picasso, Rothko, Matisse or others, showing how his work was both a response to 20th and 21st Century developments as well as personal explorations pushing their boundaries. Most of the paintings herein referred to were part of the exhibit.
I have to assume the Forthcoming Met show builds on this terrific French exhibit- terrific both in terms of paintings, drawings and photographs included as well as the commentary accompanying them and feel the abscence of referencing this is a somewhat consequential omission. Still it was intriguing to read that Mr Hockney is not resting on his laurels but is continuing to experiment with new perspectives.
I have to assume the Forthcoming Met show builds on this terrific French exhibit- terrific both in terms of paintings, drawings and photographs included as well as the commentary accompanying them and feel the abscence of referencing this is a somewhat consequential omission. Still it was intriguing to read that Mr Hockney is not resting on his laurels but is continuing to experiment with new perspectives.
4
Hockney's wish-I-could-have-it "Large Interior, Los Angeles" made me take yet another look at Hamilton's would-steal-it-if-I-could "Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing?", then diverted me from writing this just long enough to savor a Google sampling of "Picasso still life". His untitled walk-right-in farmscape multiptych is like Magritte sans stress. And his painting (title?) beneath the inkjet copy of "Garden With Blue Terrace" instantly reminds me of Matisse's "Le bonheur de vivre" dancers on, of course, Escher's staireotype. But "Garden With Blue Terrace" itself, evitcepsrep notwithstanding, strikes me as pure Hockney, and I mean that in a very good, very fun way. It's just the kind of painting I'd give anything but my eyeballs to wake up to.
Abstract art is an oxymoron.
1
Art critic Clement Greenberg was probably being disdainful when he introduced his then-8 year old daughter to Hockney and described him as the girl's favorite artist. But the joke was on Greenberg who should have known better. A child's favorite artist may change as she ages and discovers new works, but the 8 year old's creative instincts are much purer and wiser than any adult's tastes which are cluttered by life experiences and distorted by biases.
19
The work of Hockney is mundane but interesting at the same time, the compositions are nicely laid out and the use of vibrant color is excellent. There also seems to be a bit of personality in what he does. Personality is woefully lacking in todays young artists.
One thing that is not mentioned in this piece are these oil or acrylic? I need to know.
One thing that is not mentioned in this piece are these oil or acrylic? I need to know.
2
Acrylic
2
Hockney's recent use of perspective, such as in the staircase picture in this article, seems less influenced by Cubism than by M.C. Escher.
By the way, is Escher officially Museum Art yet or is he still nerd poster art? I can recall a 1990s conversation with an art historian specializing in surrealist / commercial artist Rene Magritte. I pointed out that Magritte's recent ascension since the 1970s from a favorite of advertising illustrators to Certified Museum Artist suggests that in the future Escher would undergo a similar apotheosis. She shuddered at the thought of her students someday giving lectures on Escher, but had to grant the plausibility of my analogy.
By the way, is Escher officially Museum Art yet or is he still nerd poster art? I can recall a 1990s conversation with an art historian specializing in surrealist / commercial artist Rene Magritte. I pointed out that Magritte's recent ascension since the 1970s from a favorite of advertising illustrators to Certified Museum Artist suggests that in the future Escher would undergo a similar apotheosis. She shuddered at the thought of her students someday giving lectures on Escher, but had to grant the plausibility of my analogy.
6
Love the new work. In fact, I always have loved the new work, which is amazing given the variety in medium. My favorite quote about Hockney came from Nicholas Wilder: "Hockney believes that art is a by-product - a by-product of another enterprise - an enterprise that is essentially speculative in nature." (David Hockney: Paintings of the Early 1960's" Andre Emmerich Gallery catalog intro). And this explains the freshness and verve in the work: he is always "working out an idea" as Wilder put it; and over all these years the work is sustained by a grand project of inquiry into depiction. There is now with the cut offs some synthesis and fresh exploration of older paintings recently on show in London and Paris (and soon the Met)... with artistic devices (1965), pictures on a screen (1977), picture of a courtyard in Acatlan (1985), the stage design for the Magic Flute (1977), the early nineties V.N. paintings' use of color and spatial invention; and revisiting the theatrical curtain, a rhetoric of display. And always the critique of monocularity: how to break free of the single lens. I like that lion, which for me suggests MGM's on a screen with tap dancer nearby, maybe Hockney's acknowledgement that Hollywood (eg the Freed Unit at MGM) used the camera but always staged ruptured, endlessly engaging space with matte paintings and glorious plasticity and color in depiction; plus the lyrical, plus the cut. He really is Hollywood's art conscience, which is why we like him.
10
David Hockney's art is pleasing. This doesn't mean it's great or not great, though art that is so easy to like can be too easy to like. Time will tell, and time is not always kind to the most successful artists.
1
There is no reflection,” he said. “Even with a bridge, there is never a reflection in the water.” I have about 6 Yoshida Hiroshi prints all of which have reflections in water and shadows.
1
Hockney is referring to the natural development of Japanese art which neglected shadows. Yoshida Hiroshi's art was made after the Japanese artists were exposed to Western art and shadows. Yoshida Hiroshi was copying Western art.
5
i wish I knew why - all the fuss
3
Happiness!
Saw the little Hockey retro at the Getty. Love Hockney. Pear Blossom Highway was and is one of my favorites. Photography, videopgraphy, drawing, painting... like Picasso he can do anything.
5
The great thing about Hockney is that he is still alive and reacting to the world around him. A lot of artists end up reproducing endlessly that one thing that got them noticed. And often it is the assistant doing the work. They have become trapped and cornered by the art market, boring themselves and the rest of us. We know his work is Hockney's hand, his vision, his intelligence.
27
No one mentioned hockey's 'moving paintings' where he hooked up 9 movie cameras on a truck and ambled down his country road, in England? And reproduced it on a 3 x 3 screen of gigantic tv panels in a recent show I saw in San Francisco. I love Hockney's inventive embrace of new tools.
12
I agree Andrew. Those " moving paintings " are fantastic. I imagined these in a rehab or assisted living place where residents could not experience nature.
1
Greatest British living artist? Arguably the greatest living artist, period.
A giant in a cultural world of pygmy's.
A giant in a cultural world of pygmy's.
15
I'm always interested in what Hockney is going to do next. His work is joyeous. And even at 80 he keeps inventing. Hooray!
10
Love this guy.
7
"Warhol's dead, David Hockney's still alive. I don't need to paint."
Dan Bern-Estelle
Dan Bern-Estelle
2
The light and color in Hockney's work always knocked me out. It transports me to a wonderful place. Years ago I was walking down 57th Street, near Pace and saw him walking towards me (he was wearing a 3 piece white suit!) I smiled at him and he smiled back. That was a high point in "celebrity" sightings for me. Can't wait for the retrospective.
10
Maybe Mr. Hockney, a truly great artist and visionary of our time, will move to the dimension reserved for those who can mysteriously smoke as much as they like and not die a horrible death from it. I hope he likes George Burns : ) He certainly proves how smart and dumb a person can be at the same time. Surely he knows what emphysema is even if he's lucky enough not to have it?
2
I've painted all of my 64 years and never smoked cigarettes. Recently I've learned that I carry a gene for Parkinson's and that nicotine has been proven to combat the disease at the molecular level. Now looking at this article with its wonderful images of Hockney's brilliant and still-prolific work (especially the one of his brush stroking the innovatively shaped canvas with color!) I am rethinking my decades-long stance of moral superiority over those who smoke.
6
Still moving the ball forward at 80!
5
Kudos! How refreshing to see an article regarding an excellent artist such as David Hockney and what a joy to be able to enjoy some reproductions of his work! The NYT is totally centered into the so-called (now for more than a century!) work of the avant-garde, which repeats itself ad infinitum. Thank you for interrupting, even if it is for just this piece, the tedious cannon of the "avant-garde" that the NYT regaled us constantly. With this article on Mr. Hockney, we can appreciate the abc of the visual arts, its craftsmanship which seems it has been fell into oblivion.
5
While I can appreciate cheeky contrariness, I find it curious that Hockney finds delight in denouncing the anti-smoking movement. I watched a dear friend die from smoking-related emphysema. It was long, ugly and torturous death as are many/most smoking related deaths. Why would anyone delight in poking fun at this?
2
When you are 80, you can do any darn thing you please.
2
In these days of intemperate speech, perhaps the author does not fully realize how she has insulted her subject by referring to some of his opinions as "largely indefensible". That is not simply an assertion that these views are mistaken; it says that it is simply not permissible to hold them. (The illustration is his opinion on smoking.)
One hopes that when this judgemental stance is combined with the repeated emphasis on his age, it does not add up to a suggestion that people of his years cannot be relied upon to be thinking rationally.
One hopes that when this judgemental stance is combined with the repeated emphasis on his age, it does not add up to a suggestion that people of his years cannot be relied upon to be thinking rationally.
11
And, OH! his opera sets! So wonderful.
7
One of the inspiring things about Hockney has been his adoptation of technology in his art. Specifically, as I understand the background, he discovered a new medium with the iPhone as he "painted" using a app like Brushes. These quick little works using his finger tip and the app's tools included images of flowers in a vase and other simple but colorful images. Then, he would send them, using the iPhone, to a gallery in Paris, where the images/paintings would be viewed on large, flat-screen displays around the gallery. And the images could change instantly as he created them. I presume he took it to another level with the introduction of the iPad.
These images are reminders of the great impressionists and I love them all.
These images are reminders of the great impressionists and I love them all.
11
saw some ofcthese at the DeYoung a few tears ago! wonderful & ingenious!!
4
Lucky you! I missed that exhibit and have kicked myself ever since. At least I did get to see, several times, his video installation there, made of a grid of nine (or 12? I forget) screens showing a group of small trees along a Yorkshire roadside, their foliage shimmying in the breeze, each screen having been shot from a slightly different angle. Mesmerizing!
Adoptation??? I think I may like it, but I'm not sure you meant it.
I have always been very interested in art, even if I am not the best at it myself. When the article talks about how the artist David Hockney paints things like the skyline with bright colors and abstract buildings, I am more intrigued. I love the way paintings can both tell a story by themselves and still be beautiful.
I am inspired by the paintings shown in this passage because I believe that the variety in each painting portrays that he is not all about one specific style. Much like many other things that involve style in the world, for example writing and photography, sometimes stepping outside of your comfort zone is ideal to create something new and exciting. David Hockney is an inspiring painter because he does exactly this. He does not have one specific style to each one of his paintings, only making them more interesting. It is exciting to see what he will come out with next, considering it could be the complete opposite of the last painting.
I picked this passage because I love the way the artist is different in his own way. It makes me want to be different in the things I do. I love photography and I love to write. I am inspired to try new things in order to improve myself in these areas.
I am inspired by the paintings shown in this passage because I believe that the variety in each painting portrays that he is not all about one specific style. Much like many other things that involve style in the world, for example writing and photography, sometimes stepping outside of your comfort zone is ideal to create something new and exciting. David Hockney is an inspiring painter because he does exactly this. He does not have one specific style to each one of his paintings, only making them more interesting. It is exciting to see what he will come out with next, considering it could be the complete opposite of the last painting.
I picked this passage because I love the way the artist is different in his own way. It makes me want to be different in the things I do. I love photography and I love to write. I am inspired to try new things in order to improve myself in these areas.
5
At best, a good illustrator. Nothing more.
And I can think of many illustrators who are far more talented.
And I can think of many illustrators who are far more talented.
3
I usually look at a painting in a museum without looking to see who has painted it. I always like the Hockney works. I love Hockney.
2
I am not a particular fan of the paintings but those photo collages of polaroids, and Pearblossom highway and the one of the telephone poles on Telegraph Hill--to my astonishment--of those I have seen, are post masterworks on perspective and seeing. Pearlblossom is equal to and truer than Ansel Adams' landscape candids.
11
and his drawings!!! portraits are incredible!
4
His "A Bigger Splash"reminds me of a Second Life scene. The new stuff seems to be repackaged Cubism for the lazy eyed. Never was a fan of his. On the other hand, the ability to win both vehement admirers and spitting critics , and still make enough money to thrive is one mark of artistic genius. A talent that Gauguin and van Gogh were lacking.
My philistine two cents.
My philistine two cents.
5
I've loved Mr. Hockney's work ever since I saw some reproduced in a 1968 book on Pop Art. He's still underrated, in my view. And yes, the comment by Clement Greenberg that Hockney was his 8-year old daughter's favorite artist was no doubt intended as a put-down. Much as I love abstract art (and I am an abstract artist myself) those (mostly) guys of the Ab-Ex movement often took themselves way too seriously. Seeing Hockey's latest works which are riots of bright color, is very comforting and reassuring to me. And Mr. Hockney's book "Secret Knowledge" is one of the prize selections in my extensive art-book library. I hope Mr. Hockney is able to keep working for many more years. I'll bet he has many tricks up his sleeve yet.
17
I once went to a lecture by him on Camera Obscura, a device old painters used to capture an image on a flat surface by sitting in an otherwise oversized pin hole camera to trace the image of what they were trying to paint onto their canvas in order to get the perspective right, only backwards. He liked thinking about optics and can only image he was big on short focal length lenses - they distort perspective really great - especially fish eye lenses.
3
It's really odd to think of artists like David being old. His art is and always will be so young.
42
It seems to me that as some creative artists like playwrights and musicians journey into advanced age, their skills and creativity fade. The talent never completely leaves them, but they are diminished from their primes. It's just part of getting older, and it's happening to us all. However, painters and sculptors are different. The best ones, people like David Hockney or Helen Frankenthaler, create compelling work right up until the curtain comes down.
Thank you Mr. Hockney. The world is more colorful and beautiful because of your art. Your work is better than ever.
Thank you Mr. Hockney. The world is more colorful and beautiful because of your art. Your work is better than ever.
28
And as they get older, new technology comes up with even brighter paint. Maybe kind of evens out. Can only what image what Van Gogh could have done with glossy vinyl house paint and all the colors it comes in.
3
I like anything with bold vibrant colors ( especially hues that are not normally used ) and paint in very much the same way. ( abstract )
I salute such genius that is Mr. Hockney.
I salute such genius that is Mr. Hockney.
7
What a contrast between Yorkshire and the sunshine of California! I enjoyed his story of the snub by the critic. The fact that he is still creating art at 80 shows his curiosity and bravery to try something new. After all, he could easily just cater to what is popular and crank out variations of older works.
18
My mother taught painting, drawing and art history for 36 years, and was a highly prized artist in her own right. Many of her students made a fine living as artists and remained in touch with her until she died in 1994.
Her classes were always crowded with students either pursuing their own passion as artists or as art historians. Sometimes a student would voice a concern, "I don't think I will ever be a good artist." And she would reply, "It's fine if you don't become an 'artist.'" But I hope you will spend the rest of your life enjoying art in museums, or whenever, wherever, you find it."
She also extended her own knowledge of art history and culture by using her year-long sabbatical to study western Native American art, from Alaska to our southern borderlands of the Navajo, Hopi, and Zuni tribes. She shared this added dimension with her students and they loved her for it.
David Hockney delighted her with his wimsical used of color and light. I still do at my own tender age of 73. Along with the great European masters, I truly enjoy the works of Hockney, Picasso, Renoir, Mattise Calder, Pollock, ...
The petroglyphs of Native Americans throughout the Southwest are amazingly preserved on the canyon walls of ancient sites. And on and on ...
Sometimes it seems as if the world of art is bigger that the world itself.
Her classes were always crowded with students either pursuing their own passion as artists or as art historians. Sometimes a student would voice a concern, "I don't think I will ever be a good artist." And she would reply, "It's fine if you don't become an 'artist.'" But I hope you will spend the rest of your life enjoying art in museums, or whenever, wherever, you find it."
She also extended her own knowledge of art history and culture by using her year-long sabbatical to study western Native American art, from Alaska to our southern borderlands of the Navajo, Hopi, and Zuni tribes. She shared this added dimension with her students and they loved her for it.
David Hockney delighted her with his wimsical used of color and light. I still do at my own tender age of 73. Along with the great European masters, I truly enjoy the works of Hockney, Picasso, Renoir, Mattise Calder, Pollock, ...
The petroglyphs of Native Americans throughout the Southwest are amazingly preserved on the canyon walls of ancient sites. And on and on ...
Sometimes it seems as if the world of art is bigger that the world itself.
11
I could never be a curator. These make my eyes hurt. They lack what Ms. O'Keefe's works were so full of in each one.
I guess he's great if you say he is. Looks and sounds like a fun guy. But I'm sure that despite their simplicity in appearance, it took more to create them that is conveyed.
Thanks for the open discussion and acceptance of the fact that not all of us recognize his genius.
PS I'm not big on discordant music either. Must be wired more of an engineer than an artist.
I guess he's great if you say he is. Looks and sounds like a fun guy. But I'm sure that despite their simplicity in appearance, it took more to create them that is conveyed.
Thanks for the open discussion and acceptance of the fact that not all of us recognize his genius.
PS I'm not big on discordant music either. Must be wired more of an engineer than an artist.
5
I like the paintings and their bright colors. But I revere the Ran Ortner paintings whose photo realistic ocean paintings are mind boggling and yet sell for far less than a green rectangle by Ellsworth Kelly and even more far less than a white rectangle by Robert Ryman. The modern art world is rigged, conspiratorial and often an artificial asset market bought by mega wealth because it's more predictable than the Nasdaq market. Ortner and Wyeth broke through somehow and there is not a soul who really reveres a rectangle in private...Kierkekaard, " a crowd is untruth".
3
You're bringing more to the story, Mr. Bannon, than need be.
4
I suppose the real question of modern art should never have been whether it is figurative or abstract, but whether it surprises. David Hockney's work continues to surprise and delight me.
27
I once read a commentary about art by a French philosopher of art and thinker: art elucidates, he wrote. This is the most cogent notion about art that I have come across (I have an educational background in the visual arts), and does the service of weeding out what is simply the pleasurable, delightful, entertaining - perhaps even the surprising in art.
5
I love the sense of play in this latest group of paintings. Scenes around familiar places, but with nods to Matisse and Magritte and...well, all those painters of an earlier age whom Mr. Hockney admires. So grateful to see these. The focus isn't "The Splash," but the feeling of the splash is still there!
15
David Hockney is in a class all of his own, a true original. I can't wait to see the MET retrospective, although the one organized by Boston's Museum of Fine Arts sets the bar very high for them.
19
The perspective is conventional in "Garden With Blue Terrace" (2015). The caption appears to apply to the inkjet version of a similar scene with altered perspective pictured on the studio wall.
1
Maurice Escher did it better...
2
Escher did it... differently.
3
"I think this life is a great mystery."
In his work, Hockney's endowed this mysterious life with so much grace, beauty, elegance, humor, color and joy that we are blessed he's among us.
Thanks a million, Mr. Hockney!!!
In his work, Hockney's endowed this mysterious life with so much grace, beauty, elegance, humor, color and joy that we are blessed he's among us.
Thanks a million, Mr. Hockney!!!
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There's nothing perspective-defying about perspective that incorrectly drawn. Some of us just call that bad perspective.
6
You can always tell the work of an artist who is breaking the rules from that of one who never learned them in the first place. David Hockney is clearly such an artist. He knows the cardinal rule of art: that everything looks good if it looks intentional.
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But -- an artist gets to decide what is "correct." If the goal is realism, then "correct" perspective should be used -- or just grab a camera.
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Oh Lordy. You have no idea what you are talking about.
If there is anyone who knows how to draw it is David Hockney.
If there is anyone who knows how to draw it is David Hockney.
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What a genius! Deceptively "simple" and sublimely beautiful paintings! And I love the shot of him with his cigarette. Smoke 'em if you've got 'em, Mr. H!
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Love this article but I can't help wishing it was ten times as long with ten times more visual aids.
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I'm for same length but with you on the visual aids or as we call them officially: show and tell.
I am no kind of artist or painter, so I hope I don't upset anyone.
But i will never love these paintings by Mr. Hockney. Well--why?
A telltale phrase caught my eye. I read it--I thought, "Bingo!"
"The tenderness that had been bleached out of his earlier paintings by the incessant California sun." Got it in one! Those paintings (especially "Splash" and "A Bigger Splash) are so infinitely devoid of love. Significance. Everything seems made out of plastic. No real bark. Or trees. Or water. Or leaves. Or human flesh. I stare at them--they stare back at me. Cold. Unresponsive.
Somebody once cast an appraising eye on Rupert Brook's poetry. "It has no insides." That is EXACTLY how I feel about Mr. Hockney's paintings.
So different (it seems to me) from the work of an earlier American painter--Thomas Eakins! I FEEL the labor in this man's work--the love, the personal involvement. The man leaning on his oars on the Schuykill River. The doctor looking up from his cadaver. The young men going swimming. On and on. Eakins gave as it were his love--his commitment to what he was representing.
Now then! PROVE ME WRONG. I'm no artist--no expert. Show me my error. I'm willing to be convinced. More than willing. Eager.
And thanks! So interesting! And Mr. Hockney. . . .
. . .believe it or not. . .
. . . but I wish you the best. Take care!
But i will never love these paintings by Mr. Hockney. Well--why?
A telltale phrase caught my eye. I read it--I thought, "Bingo!"
"The tenderness that had been bleached out of his earlier paintings by the incessant California sun." Got it in one! Those paintings (especially "Splash" and "A Bigger Splash) are so infinitely devoid of love. Significance. Everything seems made out of plastic. No real bark. Or trees. Or water. Or leaves. Or human flesh. I stare at them--they stare back at me. Cold. Unresponsive.
Somebody once cast an appraising eye on Rupert Brook's poetry. "It has no insides." That is EXACTLY how I feel about Mr. Hockney's paintings.
So different (it seems to me) from the work of an earlier American painter--Thomas Eakins! I FEEL the labor in this man's work--the love, the personal involvement. The man leaning on his oars on the Schuykill River. The doctor looking up from his cadaver. The young men going swimming. On and on. Eakins gave as it were his love--his commitment to what he was representing.
Now then! PROVE ME WRONG. I'm no artist--no expert. Show me my error. I'm willing to be convinced. More than willing. Eager.
And thanks! So interesting! And Mr. Hockney. . . .
. . .believe it or not. . .
. . . but I wish you the best. Take care!
22
No great artist ever tried to please everyone. You are not "wrong" if you don't enjoy the work of David Hockney, or if you prefer Thomas Eakins, an artist as different from Hockney as Johannes Brahms is from Paul McCartney. All that means is that one artist appeals more to you than another.
And you don't have to be an artist or an "expert" to share your preferences in print. All you need is a pair of eyes and an ability to write In a sense, we are all art critics. We all prefer some art over other art, and we all have our reasons to do so.
And you don't have to be an artist or an "expert" to share your preferences in print. All you need is a pair of eyes and an ability to write In a sense, we are all art critics. We all prefer some art over other art, and we all have our reasons to do so.
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couldn't agree with you more..you nailed it.
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Everything seems made out of plastic? Cold and unresponsive?
Welcome to America.
Sometimes a stranger can see your home more clearly than you can.
Welcome to America.
Sometimes a stranger can see your home more clearly than you can.
19
Recently saw an exhibit of David Hockney at the Tate London - terrific ! Looking forward to this one too.
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I believe it's the Tate Britain retrospective, which I saw as well, moved to the Met, but definitely worth a second viewing. It drew nearly half a million people in London.
Saw it too! & the ine at the De Young in San Francisco- London had a fantastic wall of black snd white drawings- and amazing graphite portraits & SF had big green paintings from his English home in the woods & computer screen drawings with an app in video looping- his drawing in time- great color & line! Such a breadth of inquiry and talent! Always a delight and surprise! A truly original artist.
2
I saw that exhibit at the Tate too. Loved it.
Thanks for this. The images of the paintings shown here make me feel good, and that is all I ask this afternoon.
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Shimmering still life. Gorgeous color. Perspectives that left us a little tipsy. Still a genius. Thanks. Those blue running figures make us want to dance.
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Hockney's books of paintings and drawings have brought such happiness to our family's lives. Inquisitive, joyous, and a great draftsman. His curiosity is inspiring and thought of often as a model for approaching the world. Cheers to D.H.!
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