David Hockney - 'Layers'

David Hockney

David Hockney was born in Bradford, England on July 9, 1937. He is a painter, draughtsman, printmaker, stage designer and photographer. During his lifetime Hockney has lived on and off in California and Los Angeles, inspiring him to produce many paintings of swimming pools, using the newfound acrylic paints, giving the work a vibrant outlook. Hockney is a large contributor to the Pop art movement of the 1960s, and is thought to be one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. On an interview on the Telegraph, Hockney stated that “making marks always appealed to me”, and that “I’ve always assumed that one of my relatives must have been a cave artist who liked making marks on the wall.” He also mentioned that it is “hard to represent horrible things, because by their nature pictures attract us.” This shows how Hockney wanted to give pleasure to the people looking at his paintings and other works. He does this by using very bright and vibrant colours within his paintings, as well as using a cartoon-like style to portray an almost childlike perception of the subject.

A Bigger Grand Canyon

‘A Bigger Grand Canyon’, 1998

David Hockney

Oil on sixty canvases

81x291 inches

http://www.hockneypictures.com/home.php

David Hockney’s ‘A Bigger Grand Canyon’ portrays many different themes, one of them being ‘layers’. The title of the piece shows that Hockney wants to emphasise the enormity of the Grand Canyon; he does this by putting together sixty 16 x 24 inch canvases. This draws attention to the vastness of the Grand Canyon because it shows that in order to capture the whole picture, Hockney needed to layer smaller canvases to create a larger image that presents the Grand Canyon’s beauty and awe altogether.

Hockney uses a diverse range of shades and tones to show each layer of rock and soil within the Grand Canyon. This contrasts with the trees and plants in the image - they seem to lack life and abundance as they should, and the focus is set largely on the rocks surrounding them. The colour red is very prominent in this piece, boldly standing out over the little greenery that there is. Again, this highlights the greatness of the Grand Canyon, showing how it is bright and full of hope.

Photo Collages

‘Still Life Blue Guitar’, 1982

David Hockney

Composite polaroid

24.5x30 inches

http://www.hockneypictures.com/photos/photos_polaroid_03.php

‘Pearblossom Highway’, 1986

David Hockney

Photographic collage

78x111 inches http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=112574

David Hockney has produced many photograph collages - the style he uses however is different to most. As shown in the examples above, Hockney has taken many polaroid pictures and joined them together in a collage to complete a full image. The difference is that it didn't matter to him if the polaroid pictures were perfectly aligned, giving a view of the subject from many different angles, as if being seen from the normal human eye; thus giving it an element of Cubism. He named these collages 'joiners'. This also links back to the theme of 'layers' in a physical way because of the way that the smaller images have been layered up to create a bigger picture, giving it a whole new outlook and perspective.

Combining the David Hockney Concepts

Taking these two approaches of David Hockney: a vivid landscape and photo collages, I've created my own image that combines these techniques.

'A Bigger Tuscan Landscape', 2014
Hannah Jesudason
Photographic Collage

In the style of David Hockney, I put together a photo collage of a landscape in Tuscany by taking separate photos of parts of the landscape, and then layering them together to create the full image. I also used the subject of a landscape - a common subject used by Hockey, to portray the full and complete beauty of the view. I also used a saturating effect on a computer software to bring old the reds and blues in the image, making it more bold and vibrant.