David Hockney

David Hockney is an English painter, draftsman, printmaker, stage designer and photographer. His work is characterised by the exploration of traditional techniques such as oil painting, print making and digital reproductive technologies as well as fascination with light and mundane realism. His contribution to the Pop art movement made him considered one of the most influential British artists of the 20th century.

He studied at the Bradford College of Art and the Royal college of Art, London where he received a gold medal in the gratitude compensation. He went to teach at the university of Iowa, Colorado and California in 1964 and permanently settled in Los Angeles in 1978. The city’s intense light and “California modern” aesthetic influenced his work.

Much of Hockney’s work was autobiographical including self portraits and incidental scenes of his friends such as the Pool with Two Figures.

In the early 1980s, Hockney started to experiment with photocollages he called “joiners”. He started off with polaroid prints, then 35mm, processed, coloured prints. Using multiple prints of a single subject he would arrange them to make one image. Since the photographs are takin from different perspectives and slightly different lighting, the final collage gives an effect similar to Cubism.

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Here you can read more about David Hockley’s joiners.

Image analysis

This image shows an elderly couple solving a crossword puzzle. I chose to analyse Hockney’s joiner because he captures something not many artists do, and that is time. He said “Photography seems to be rather good at portraiture, or can be. But, it cant tell you about space, which is the essence of landscape. For me anyway. Even Ansel Adams cant quite prepare you for what Yosemite looks like when you go through that tunnel and you come out the other side”. He also quoted “The space is the illusion, but the time is not the illusion”. Almost all photographs only capture a frame of a certain moment in time, Hockey’s joiners consist of multiple pictures taken at different points in time, they show the development of emotions throughout time. Time is also highlighted in the process itself, as he took each individual shot in a space of an hour, he had to wait for them then put them together. The overall tone of the photograph is rather dull, very blueish grey, influenced by the colour of the walls, the objects on the table, the hair of the subjects and even the weather outside. Although the picture is cool toned the warmer colours in the faces of the subjects create a pleasant contrast, standing out and so acting as the focal point of the photograph.