For over six decades Hockney has experimented and developed his craft through a diverse range of mediums from the humble iPad to giant, towering canvas pieces. A graduate from the Bradford School of Art, his works brilliantly capture important aspects of modern life and cement him as one of the 20th centuries luminary figures. His unique blend of abstract pop has seen him experiment with a number of techniques which give us, the viewer, a new perspective on the world around us. Uniting both the imaginary with the real he manages to create and explore ideas that both in their concept and execution are inspired.
Often working from photos and reworking the image in his studio, Hockney has explored traditional techniques from oil painting to acrylics, all kinds of printmaking, from homemade prints to lithography, etching, aquatint and drypoint and later digital reproductive technologies, such as C-type print, digital photography and Photoshop drawing on his iPad.
This commitment to honing and exploring his craft has allowed him to create innovative works that straddle the boundaries between the traditional and revolutionary. As a young boy who feared that a career in art would make it hard to make a living, Hockney still was attracted to painting. Accepted into the Royal College of Art, Hockney was surrounded by other exceptional artists such as Allen Jones and Peter Philips - all who have left an indelible fingerprint on the passage of British art.
As his ever-changing career and influences developed his progression saw him inspired by a rich tapestry of movements and artists. From American Abstract Expressionism there are hints and suggestions of Picasso, Matisse and Bacon in much of Hockney’s stellar and voracious output. Assimilating such styles into his own distinct identity, Hockney was able to input a plethora of colours and lines, content and form, which flowed from one to another all channelled through his masterful technical and creative abilities, allowing him to be both loose and accurate, to simplify and to make his work unique.
Hockney touches on a range of themes from love and loneliness to the beauty and transient nature of life itself. Sex and the body and can be seen in his works undertaken in LA in the late 1960s and in the 1970s. A freer space allowed him to explore new perspectives and allowed him to rise to international success both critically and financially. Mixing the archetypal Californian beach look, its looseness and allowance for individual expression with a classically British eccentric style, Hockney was able to escape convention and experiment with his craft. Arguably his most famous works, his exceptional Pool series was born out of this time with dancing lines and bathed in light from the Californian sun. This devotion to playing with illusion, like a colourful mage waving a wand across the canvas, saw him work with landscapes, portraits and photography - further demonstrating a love for life and exploration that he so dearly sort to capture in his unique style.
Celebrating life in bold lines and bright colours, Hockney’s career has witnessed the artist constantly seek to embrace new methods of working and expressing his keen eye for composition, colour and form. Moving to the 2000s Hockney famously picked up the iPad where he would explore still-lifes and landscapes, all meticulously executed in his uniquely languid yet energetic and flowing style. Colour, it seems, could only get brighter.
Thick and thin lines can be found in his more abstract works (Eine, Deux and Tres) which are, simulations almost, being both very David Hockney and not David Hocney at the same time. Texture and composition flanked by beautiful colours are replete within the works and stand as towering reminders of an artist who is not afraid to innovate or challenge himself, a true testament to his versatility.
Throughout his life Hockney has embraced artistic movements and bohemia. From his early works to the most recent, he isa unique artist that has truly pushed himself constantly and, through such feats, found himself in the great pantheons of art.
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