Fri 28 Feb 2020 to Fri 31 Jul 2020
23 Dering Street, W1S 1AW David Hockney: Video Brings Its Time to You, You Bring Your Time to Paintings and Drawings
Mon-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat 11am-5pm
Artist: David Hockney
An exhibition of portraits by David Hockney entitled Video Brings Its Time to You, You Bring Your Time to Paintings and Drawings. The show coincides with Hockney's exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery which opens on 27 February 2020.
David Hockney
Ed Sheeran, 2018
Charcoal and crayon on canvas
915.0 × 1220.0 mm
© David Hockney. Photo Credit: Richard Schmidt
David Hockney
Ink on paper
575.0 × 768.0 mm
© David Hockney. Photo Credit: Richard Schmidt
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The exhibition includes 18 portraits on canvas of Hockney's friends and associates, from fellow artists to well-known musicians such as Ed Sheeran and Bruno Mars. Painted using a mixture of charcoal, crayon and acrylic on canvas, the works display Hockney's brilliant draughtsmanship and distinctive use of line and colour. In addition, five coloured ink drawings on paper feature those such as the artist's sister, Margaret Hockney, and Scarlett Clark, the granddaughter of Hockney's long-time muse, Celia Birtwell.
The exhibition also includes two multiple perspective videos: Woldgate Woods, Winter 2010 (9 screens) and Seven Yorkshire Landscapes, 2011 (18 screens). Filmed in Hockney's native Yorkshire, in these videos Hockney continues his career-long exploration of single point perspective. By attaching multiple cameras to a car and driving through Yorkshire's rural landscape, these videos are presented on multiple screens to comprise one work. In doing so, various perspectives are presented at one time. As Hockney said, this "forces the eye to scan, and it is impossible to see everything at once. [...] as in the real world you choose which objects to look at and in which order to do so."
In addition to the portraits and videos, three photographic drawings will also be featured in the exhibition. Interior scenes of Hockney's LA studio feature friends and colleagues along with studio equipment and various elements of furniture, props and mirrors. By making composite images of photographs and paintings, Hockney amalgamates various viewpoints, deliberately altering perspective and throwing our traditional understanding of depth off-kilter.
David Hockney is constantly exploring new technological possibilities in art. He has embraced the use of the iPad, video, polaroid and photoshop as a means to create works that stand alongside his works of more traditional methods such as painting and drawing. Now in his eighties, Hockney's investigations into how to depict more truly how we 'see' is unwavering and renders him arguably one of the most celebrated artists of his generation and perhaps the most recognised living artist today.
The show coincides with Hockney's exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, London, David Hockney: Drawing from Life, which runs from 27 February - 28 June 2020.