David HOCKNEY The world is beautiful
By Belle vlamings
The world is beautiful
‘Nature is endlessly fascinating, endless. I can’t be bored at all.’
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David Hockney
“The world is very, very beautiful if you look at it. But most people don’t look very much. They scan the ground in front of them so they can walk, but they don’t really look at things incredibly well, with intensity. I do, and I’ve always known that.” Editors letter David Hockney (b.1937) is a British painter, printmaker, photographer and stage designer, who is considered among the most influential and versatile British artists of the 20th century. Hockney is a notable contributor to the pop art movement in Britain, both in its foundation and growth, beginning with his participation in an annual exhibition called ‘Young Contemporaries’ in 1960, which also marked the start of his recognition in the art world.
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The world is beautiful
Born with synesthesia, Hockney sees color as a cognitive response to hearing music. This might explain the refreshing palette that Hockney employs in his works. Or perhaps it was a reaction to the grey skies and cityscapes of Britain that inspired Hockney to create a more colorful world on canvas. Hockney embraced his fauvist inclinations and paired them with a pop-art interpretation of domestic life, greatly influencing his contemporaries and emerging artists alike.
The world is beautiful
82 Portraits and 1 Still-life In 82 Portraits and 1 Still-life, David Hockney offers a vibrant and intimate view of people with whom he has developed relationships over the past 50 years. The majority of the portraits were painted in Hockney’s Los Angeles studio, all from life and over a period of two or three days, which the artist has described as “a 20-hour exposure.” None of Hockney’s portraits are commissioned; for this series he invited family, members of his staff, and close friends to sit for him—including several curators, art dealers, and collectors with local and international renown.
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The world is beautiful
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The world is beautiful
Portrait of an artist 8
t (pool with two figures) 9
The world is beautiful
The story of one of the 20th century’s most widely recognised and loved works, Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures), which realised $90.3 million on 15 November to become the most expensive work of art by a living artist sold at auction One of the most iconic images in the artist’s oeuvre, David Hockney’s Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) is a story of two compositions. The first, started in 1971, was inspired by the serendipitous juxtaposition of two photographs on the artist’s studio floor. ‘One was of a figure swimming underwater and therefore quite distorted… the other was a boy gazing at something on the ground,’ Hockney would later recall. ‘The idea of painting two figures in different styles appealed so much that I began the painting immediately.’
The world is beautiful
‘I've Always found the world quite beautiful, looking at it. Just looking. And that's an important thing i share with vincent van gogh: we both really, really enjoy looking at the world.’ 10
The world is beautiful
‘but then I found the Brushes app and started drawing on the iPhone. It gave me a whole new kind of freedom: I could draw 11 everywhere, even in bed.’
David Hockney
The world is beautiful David Hockney
The world is beautiful
‘Someone said I was cutting corners,
Why didn’t I think of th
In 2017 Hockney begins a group of paintings that take him in a ne to create a hexagon. The shape allows him to give the illusion o 14
, but actually, I’ve added two .............
The world is beautiful
his twenty years ago?’
ew direction. He cuts off the lower corners of a rectangular canvas of a widening picture with aspects painted in reverse perspective. 15
David HOCKNEY The world is beautiful