David Hockney RA: A Bigger Picture
Now in his seventies, David Hockney RA is characteristically breaking new ground to fill the vast spaces of his RA show with works on a colossal scale. He tells Martin Gayford why he is using the latest digital technology in innovative ways to tackle a subject that has preoccupied artists for centuries – nature
David Hockney RA declares, ‘The great thing to say is that this is not a retrospective.’ He is talking about his forthcoming exhibition at the Royal Academy, ‘A Bigger Picture’, and he is absolutely correct. Although a few earlier works are included to provide context, essentially this is the opposite of a career overview. Of course, Hockney has been an enormously prolific and celebrated painter for half a century, and much of his earlier work – the cool images of Californian life from the mid-1960s, the grandly naturalistic portraits of the late 60s and early 70s, the photo-collages of the 80s – has already passed into the art history books. But this exhibition is not about that. It is a more unusual, indeed unprecedented, affair.
Almost the entire space of the main galleries at Burlington House will be filled with recent work by the 74-year-old artist: much of it made within the past four years, a good deal in the past 12 months. ‘These are some of the best rooms in London to hang very grand paintings,’ he says. ‘That’s what they were made for, that’s how the lighting was designed. It’s a fantastic opportunity, and I think I’ve responded to it.’
David Hockney, 'Winter Timber', 2009. Oil on 15 canvases, 274.32 x 609.6 cm. Photo: Jonathan Wilkinson. © David Hockney
RA Magazine Winter 2011
Issue Number: 113
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