Self portrait 2021
"I paint what I like, when I like and where I like." - David Hockney
"My only worry is the painting I'm doing. Nothing else." - David Hockney
Well-known people die every day. You learn about their passing from news services. Mostly those news items pass me by without so much as a missed heartbeat. But yesterday was different.
When I read about the death of David Hockney, I responded with an involuntary sharp intake of breath. And then I felt very sad for he was one of my very small number of heroes. A proud Yorkshireman like me, he had many of the traits of a genius.
He was so passionate about his art and so productive and he never stopped evolving. He didn't give a bugger what anybody thought about him or his art because he was truly driven. He sought visual beauty and delighted in the world around him. Eighty eight years was not nearly enough time to portray all of the moments he sought to capture.
Back in 2017 I made a special visit to The Tate Britain Gallery in London to see a comprehensive exhibition of his work and I was enthralled. I blogged about it here.
If I could speak to David Hockney now that he has departed the land of the living I would say, "Thank you for being here David and for all that you have left behind. It was really worth it man. Truly."
* I read a book about coal. *
ReplyDeleteDavid Hockney imbued that offhand remark with a quaint surreal luminosity.
LOOK AT STUFF A DIFFERENT WAY - DAVID HOCKNEY OUTTAKE 41/ 80.
YouTube. Coluga Pictures.
I LIKE BIG SPACES - DAVID HOCKNEY OUTTAKE 4/ 80.
YouTube. Coluga Pictures.
In his last golden years he was taking sunrise pictures on his Smartphone.
BRYAN APPLEYARD INTERVIEWS DAVID HOCKNEY 1.
YouTube.
He was certainly a very talented man. The "English picasso" as one newspaper referred to him. To be able to be totally free and not give a bugger comes through in his work.
ReplyDeleteMy husband went to the same exhibition in 2017. You may have stood side by side in the Tate.......
Like you, more often than not when there is news of someone famous having died, I acknowledge it but am neither sad nor shocked. David Hockney was not exactly one of my heroes, but I really liked what he did, and what little I knew about him as a person made him appear like someone I'd have liked to know.
ReplyDeleteYour tribute to him is heartfelt, and I love the second painting. My sister and I have been thinking for years about visiting Saltaire and see the permanent exhibition of some of his work there; maybe we'll manage to arrange a day trip this year.
I liked this tribute about him here:
https://www.yorkshire.com/bradford/news/community/david-hockney-bradford-artist-has-died-11-june-2026?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=7f34876d-8a8d-40ca-b4bb-d5a2091594f6