- Venue
- Royal Academy of Arts
- Location
- London
David Hockney’s A BIGGER PICTURE
“One in the back of the net for Yorkshire!”
Having seen a taster on TV, listened to an interview on the radio and read the newspapers I had an idea of what I was going to see as I entered the Royal Academy to view David Hockney’s current exhibition “A Bigger Picture”.
However I urge everyone to see it with their own eyes, it is such a tonic for the soul. I’m sure we are all fatigued by the gloom of the recession brought about by the city bankers; well here is the antidote to all that dismal discourse.
If you don’t leave that exhibition feeling uplifted, optimistic and hopeful then you should check you still have a pulse!
As soon as I entered into room 1 “Thixendale trees” the sense of childish fun hit me, my mind spun back to my childhood during the 1960’s, when I fell in love with the vibrant colours of my felt tip pens.
Here, his brush strokes are loose and his method to infill with dabs of colour immediately brings to my mind the 19th century artists such as Claude Monet and George Seurat who used this pointillism technique.
I move to room 2 where Hockney’s earlier landscapes hang, I love the vibrancy of “Nichols Canyon” (1980) the complementary blue and orange shouts of Fauvists like the Collioure landscapes by Andre Derain (1905). Juxtaposed we see some of Hockney’s photocollage landscapes such as “Pearblossom Highway” (1986) surely paying homage to Picasso and Cubism. It is well documented that Hockney was inspired by Picasso and the idea of multiple viewpoints being a truer way of representing reality.
“Wow” the rich colour in room 3, such warmth, I’m now thinking about Matisse and Van Gogh. It seems ironic that these warm depictions of Hockney’s beloved Yorkshire were created at the emotionally difficult time (1997) when he was visiting his terminally ill friend Jonathan Silver. The image of the Yorkshire planes in particular, reminds me of my home county, Shropshire and I ponder the fact that Hockney has brought the beauty of the English countryside into the heart of the city of London.
I move to room 4 and gaze at the contrasting images, oils and watercolours, as if by a different artist, there’s more draughtsmanship here ; then I read that in this room in contrast to the previous (room 3 images from memory) these are each created from direct observation. Using perspective, tone and warm colours he really catches an atmosphere of East Yorkshire in the summer of 2004
I pass through room 5 entitled tunnels. Like great artists before him, Hockney re-visits a favourite location (a farm track near Kilham, E. Yorkshire) over and over again, exploring the effects of the changing seasons. He captures the drama of the skies, the warm light, the cold light, the evening light and the morning light, you can almost feel the chill of the snow and the kiss of the warm sunshine on your face.
The charcoal studies steal my attention in the next room, gestural, confident, tonal depictions of Woldgate woods 2008. They are the precursors to the enormous colour studies of the same, each comprising 6 large canvases which flank the walls of this room.
Moving on, I encounter “hawthorn blossom” in room 7, here I can feel Hockney’s energy, his enthusiasm for life. Again, he has me considering the influence of great artist’s from the past, this time its Van Gogh , I’m looking at ‘May Blossom on the Roman road ‘(2009) His sky is depicted with a curvilinear swirl of pink and blue dash’s of paint . The primitive dabs and circles of blossom remind me of the Aboriginal style of painting. It’s as if this composition is morphing towards complete abstraction.
‘Trees and Totems’ in room 8 strikes me as very sculptural, there is something rather anthropomorphic about the long stump of the dead tree. A remnant of a former glory, making a last statement on the circle of life. Again, strong charcoal studies in juxtaposition demonstrate the compositional development. The long horizontal golden logs lie on the complementary purple shroud of undergrowth waiting in an orderly fashion for their departure.
At the start of the exhibition I could see the purples and yellows of “the arrival of spring” in the distance to the left of room 1, the vibrancy acted like a magnet, urging me to go straight over, but I couldn’t. The gallery leads you around, room by room in a logical progression. So at last, I’m confronted by this awesome composition in room 9.It is made up of 32 canvases. The bold, vertical lines transport me, as if I’m standing in woodland and they are clothed with Matissean style leaf motifs. This is my favourite.
The film work in room 11 simply has to be seen. It is mesmerising. This seems to be a culmination of Hockney’s ideas, he has embraced technology to develop and push the boundary of what Picasso started with cubism. Conventional photography is flat and two dimensional, it lacks the element of the passage of time and as such lacks life. Yet by using 9 video cameras strapped to the bonnet of a moving vehicle he manages to capture a variety of; view points, depth of focus, and time frames which does take us closer to how we really see the world through our very sophisticated sensory organ “the human eye”.
Included in this film work Hockney demonstrates his sense of humour, just prior to the dancers, he places a written message on a chair which reads; “death comes even to those who don’t smoke”. Here is a man who doesn’t take himself too seriously! Hockney is 74 years young, although (unfortunately) I have never met him, his warmth of character, his sense of fun, his intelligence, his willingness to experiment (drawing using an ipad), his energy and enthusiasm for life radiate throughout this exciting exhibition.
I left the exhibition physically exhausted yet spiritually uplifted. Could this exhibition mark the beginning of a more positive economic period in our beautiful Country? Yorkshire must be feeling very proud; I hope they are ready for the tourists who will surely make the pilgrimage to see and experience Hockney’s world.
