Continued from For David Hockney, Attention Was Love - Part 1
David Hockney. The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire in 2011 (twenty eleven) - 4 May. iPad drawing printed on paper. Edition of 25. 55 x 41 ½ in. © David Hockney
At the core of Hockney's landscapes lies a sustained devotion to particular places. Woldgate Road, in particular, becomes less a subject than a lifelong companion, revisited across seasons, mediums, and decades. Capturing not only the external climate but also the inner landscape of memory and emotion, Hockney often painted en plein air, but happily retreated to the warmth of his car during colder months.
The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire is an iPad drawing series that explores the interplay of spring colors, tones, and the natural passing of time over a four month period. The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire in 2011 (twenty eleven) – 15 March, (2011), portrays a singular neon-purple tree trunk, stark and rather solemn. Behind it stand tall, leafless trees rendered in aqua blues and translucent brown digital strokes. Just over a month later, The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire in 2011 (twenty eleven) – 24 April, (2011), revisits the same scene from a nearly identical vantage point. The once-bare trunk now emerges as a robust symbol of nature’s resilience. Lush green grass glows beneath warmer, richer browns, while vivid greens announce the landscape’s full arrival into spring.
Despite the environmental challenges faced by Yorkshire’s landscape, Hockney’s keen observation allowed him to record moments of unexpected splendor amidst the aftermath of the county’s seasonal desecration.
David Hockney’s Perspective Should Be Reversed. November 17, 2023 – March 10, 2024. Honolulu Museum of Modern Art. Hawaii
There is nothing wrong with photography, if you don’t mind the perspective of a paralysed Cyclops — David Hockney, 2021
Installed opposite was a large six paneled iPad drawing, 10th-22nd June 2021, Water Lilies in the Pond with Pots of Flowers, (2021). Engulfing viewers with its scale, the immersive landscape transported viewers into a field of peaceful contemplation, and brimmed with intense chromatic vigor.
Six idyllic compositions stood confidently on their own, and burst with luscious lily pads, reflective ponds, and sun-soaked pots of flowers. Drawn during one of Yorkshire's warmest months, the work was heightened by a naturally saturated color palette, so much so that, even despite the work’s contrasting overcast sky, it was as if an intense summer heat had seeped into each and every pigment. Towering shrub leaves, pines, swampy bushes and a perfectly manicured patch of grass line a blue and gray gradating pond, rippling in areas from diving rain drops. From their leafy beds, sweet, blushing lilies scribble across the painting’s midground, while stormy, foreboding grey-beiges sweep across its upper reaches, dampening the sunny mood, yet no less quenching the flowers’ thirst. The pond's left edge reflects a cloudless blue sky, delightfully bordered by glowing yellow daisies and petite red-and-white chrysanthemums.
Hockney’s exploration of pre-iPhone era devices comes alive through his well-known 1983 photographic collage series. Departing from his tessellated Polaroid works made only a couple of years earlier, he transitioned to taking photos on a 35mm camera, producing artworks for sale, along with the option to repurpose his originals. In these compositions, notably My Mother, Los Angeles, (1982), Hockney strategically includes his feet, inviting viewers to engage as active participants. This subtle inclusion positions his posing mother as the vanishing point, fostering an unclear, yet interactive dynamic between observer and the observed. These complex portraits, including Christopher Isherwood talking to Bob Holman, Los Angeles, (1983), showcase Hockney’s use of a simple handheld camera and conventional drug-store-processing. By intertwining the viewer's perspective through a meticulously constructed arrangement of photographs, Hockney expands the interconnectedness between artist and subject, and hints at the panoramic inventions that would come to define his later work.
David Hockney. Perspective Should Be Reversed, 2014. Photographic drawing printed on paper, mounted on dibond. Edition of 25. 42 ¼ x 69 ¼ in. © David Hockney
Fast forward forty years, and Hockney’s kaleidoscopic tapestries of angles continue to weave together disparate elements into a cohesive whole.
The resulting images, with their lifelike qualities and deceptive sensibilities, are a testament to Hockney's mastery of spatial composition and ability to reimagine the conventions of traditional photography. Realized in pieces like the exhibition’s eponymous Perspective Should Be Reversed (2014), Hockney also continues to challenge the gaze. Through digital manipulation and innovative techniques, a reversing of traditional viewpoints prompt viewers to reconsider space—depth, dimensionality and physicality. Gestures of characters like Doug Roberts and Jonathan Wilkinson juxtaposed against the linear geometry of the red picnic table at which they sit, introduce multiple sightlines that dictate the composition's drunken legibility.
Other works in this series, like The Chairs (2014), Card Players (2015), and The Scrabble Players (2015), have experienced a magnitude of manipulation, from the placement of people to the arrangement of furniture, all while maintaining crystal-clear focus throughout. The result is a visual experience that mirrors the sharp focus of human vision, impossible to capture within a single photograph. In viewing this work, audience members became their own vanishing point, dictating the composition’s flow with their own perspective. One of the most pioneering Italian artists from the Early Renaissance, Piero della Francesca (1415 -1492), influences a pivotal point of departure in Hockney’s approach to spatial representation. Just as della Francesca imbued his paintings with a sense of ethereal depth through careful manipulation of his figures’ in paintings like Baptism of Christ, (1448-50), Hockney’s exploration of various compositional perspectives is underscored by his assortment of virtual elements, and similar rejection of reality —at least in it’s most conventionally ‘sensed.’
The significance of this technological shift is underscored by Hockney’s experiments with color photocopying in 1986, which resulted in his Home Made Prints series. Dissatisfied with the flatness of early Xerox machines’ color reproductions, Hockney deconstructed their printing process, demonstrating that layering colors sequentially produced vastly superior results. This meticulous investigation exemplifies Hockney’s relentless pursuit of innovation over six decades, defining him as one of the preeminent artists of his time.
Beginning with the artist’s fascination for iPhone drawing applications in 2008, Hockney’s transition to the iPad in 2010 opened new vistas for his creative expression. Initially, Hockney’s iPhone sketches captured everyday scenes, from the sunrise outside his bedroom window to floral arrangements adorning his home. However, the transition to the iPad provided Hockney with a larger canvas, akin to a sketchbook, enabling more intricate and detailed depictions, including playful self-portraits and compositions featuring glass ashtrays. Through his mastery of alternative media, from iPad drawings to handmade prints executed on office copiers, Hockney transcends the ordinary, infusing his renderings of commonplace objects with vibrancy and depth.
Each stroke of his digital pen or pass through the copy machine contributes to a rich tapestry of colors and textures, capturing the essence of his subjects in unprecedented ways.
David Hockney’s Perspective Should Be Reversed. November 17, 2023 – March 10, 2024. Honolulu Museum of Modern Art. Hawaii
Within the retrospectives’ section dedicated to Portraits of Self and Others, Hockney’s lens captured the essence of his subjects, whether family members, friends, or himself. Notable among them was a lithograph that seamlessly blended both portrait and self-portrait, Henry seated with Tulips, (1976). Here, Hockney paid homage to artists like Diego Velázquez (1599 - 1660) positioning his friend Henry within a charming mise en scène. Sitting serenely with tulips, he is also joined by Hockney’s own mirrored reflection, evoking whimsical dialogue between both the past and present, but mostly between two dear friends.
Hockney’s affinity for drawing those close to him spans decades of companionship and connection. Celia Birtwell, the distinguished British textile designer, once shared a close bond with Peter Schlesinger, Hockney’s partner. After Hockney and Schlesinger parted ways in 1971, Hockney’s portraits of Birtwell took on a more intimate, sometimes candid quality. Several sketches from 1973, in particular the lithograph Celia 8365 Melrose Ave., Hollywood, were produced during Hockney’s sojourn in Paris. As a recurrent source of inspiration, Birtwell featured in various lithographs and etchings, including works such as Celia in a Wicker Chair, an aquatint completed in 1974, and a lithograph titled Celia with Green Plant (1983). Each portrayal breathes life into Birtwell’s character, her personal love for textiles: chiffon, floral prints, eccentric patterns, and highlights her beautiful face, rendered in Picasso-eque mannerisms throughout Hockney’s Moving Focus Series (1984-86).
David Hockney. An Image of Celia, 1984. Lithograph, screen print, collage, hand-painted frame. Edition of 40. 59 ½ x 41 in. © David Hockney / Tyler Graphics Ltd. Photo Credit: Richard Schmidt
Hockney’s introspectiveness, seen in his iPad drawn self-portraits, confronted audiences with a personal sense of grace and resilience. Amongst these self-portraits were Self Portrait II (2012), where Hockney appears on the brink of composing a new iPad drawing, Self Portrait III (2012), featuring a signature cigarette in his mouth, and Self Portrait IV (2012), where he exhales unapologetically towards his viewers.
Hockney fearlessly broadcasts his age, from the youthful exuberance depicted in the exhibition’s initial self portrait made at age 17, right through to personal reflections captured during his 70s. Inviting audiences to contemplate identity, relationships, and the timeless allure of the human spirit, Hockney urges us to rediscover familiar faces and to look deep within, where every gaze reveals a hidden glimpse of the soul.
Self portrait IV, 25 March 2012, 2012. iPad drawing printed on paper. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. A gift from David Hockney, 2019. © David Hockney
In the grand culmination of Hockney’s survey exhibition Perspective Should Be Reversed, viewers were invited to embark on a transcendent journey through six decades of artistic innovation and exploration. From his early Californian scenes to his groundbreaking iPhone and iPad illustrations, Hockney’s relentless pursuit of pushing the boundaries of art and its traditions was illuminated throughout the boldly curated galleries at the Honolulu Museum of Art. Through a symphony of unconventional techniques and cutting-edge technologies, Hockney’s oeuvre transcends time and space, and offers a profound meditation on the nature of perspective itself. As visitors navigated the thematic displays and immersed themselves in the exhibition's vibrant landscapes, they were reminded of Hockney's enduring legacy: one that challenges our gaze, encourages us to embrace new perspectives, and find charm in the ever-changing world around us.
I’m a very early riser, and I don’t like to miss that beautiful early morning light.
- David Hockney