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david hockney
(Jul. 9, 1937 Bradford - ) English Pop Art Oil Painting Artist Biography.
David Hockney enrolled In 1953 in the Royal College of Art and began painting with oils, his medium of choice for most of his life. Hockney learned that painting was a process of seeing and thinking, rather than one of imitation. After a brilliant prize-winning career as a student at the Royal College of Art, Hockney had achieved international success by the time he was in his mid-20s, and has since consolidated his position as by far the best-known British artist of his generation. His phenomenal success has been based not only on the flair, wit and versatility of his work, but also on his colorful personality, which has made him a recognizable figure even to people not particularly interested in art.
His early oil paintings, often almost joking in mood, gained him a reputation of leading Pop artist, although he himself rejected the label. He has spent much of his time in the USA, and the Southern California swimming pool has been one of his favorite themes. Often his work has a strong homoerotic content. Hockney is a perceptive commentator on art and in 1976 published a book on his own work, David Hockney by David Hockney.
Technically, the Pop Art movement started with Richard Hamilton and David Hockney in England. Hockney's early oil paintings made superb use of the popular magazine-style images on which much of Pop Art is based.
In the early 60’s he moved to California. Hockney had become fascinated with the images of young, built and tan men in the publication Physique Pictorial, which he had collected while in London, and he was hungry to experience the sleazy underground world of Los Angeles. He immediately loved the city and made Santa Monica his home. Spending much of his day at the Santa Monica pier, Hockney would just people-watch and admire the beautiful boys that seemed to be at the beach every day of the year. This new environment greatly inspired him in his California oil paintings, such as Man Taking Shower in Beverly Hills (1964)
A Bigger Splash (1967, Tate Museum, London) was painted in California in the summer of 1967. It is a record of a typical warm, sunny, cloudless day, from the position of the shadows cast by the eaves of the building and the chair, it appears to be midday when the sun is highest in the sky and the heat is most intense. The solitary figure, which has just dived into the pool, has been deliberately overwhelmed by the strength and composure of the rest of the composition. The hidden depths of this picture take longer to assimilate than its immediate joyful and decorative appeal.
A film about him called A Bigger Splash (1974) enjoyed considerable popularity in the theaters. The film was also banned in many countries for its explicit portrayal of homosexuality, but won many awards among the critics. Hockney has truly made art a form of real human interaction and communication.
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Man Taking Shower in Beverly Hills
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Pool with Two Figures
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A Bigger Splash
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