Sunday, November 14, 2010

David Hockney and his Photographic 'Joiner' Works of Art


"Photo Montage" David Hockney

"Chair" - David Hockney

"The Desk" 1984 - David Hockney

"Pearl blossom Highway", 11th-18th April 1986
David Hockney

David Hockney
His work is looked at and referred by the Cubism principles as having
 three elements of art which are layered time, space and narrative of which
a single photo cannot have.
I became very intrigued by David Hockney’s work after being exposed to some of his photo collages shown in class.  The assignment of creating our own form of photographic collage became a new interest of mine.  I now catch myself checking out my environment with a new set of eyes of how the visual space presented in front of me would be fun to explore by taking multiple photos of it.  The outcome was so challenging and engaging for me while attempting this feat. I love the subjects that David Hockney used to photograph for his collages.  They were rather simple, but made them more significant when presented in the collage form.
He is a seventy-three year old British artist who has been incredibly influential over the past fifty-plus years.  He was claimed as a pop-artist, but I am not sure he cared for the title.  His main medium is oil paints, yet he has an array of other works done in other mediums such as print making, sketching, photography and presently has fallen in love with the I-pad as his new form of medium.
            Throughout his life he chose subject matters that were personal to him.  He painted many pool scenes, people he knew and other scenic views that were of significance to him.  I enjoyed viewing his different phases of art he created starting from the fifties to the present.  I noticed in several of his pieces, mainly starting from the seventies, was his approach of creating his visual space with grids that would help break up space.  A lot of his pieces are more than one panels joined together such as his painting of “Schwimmbad Mitternacht (Paper Pool II)” 1978.  In the 1980s he really started to focus on his photography as a “concept of naturalism by representing things as they were actually being viewed.” He grew to love this kind of work, but didn’t want to become too dependent on his photographs as an artist.  He created amazing Polaroid collages that had the white frame around them so when pieced together it gave a grid affect to help break up the picture.  He than just took multiple photographs with a regular camera of a subject such as a highway he titled, “Pearl blossom”, a chair, a desk, a telephone pole and many other scenes.  To try and explain the outcome would be hard.  I can only say that his collages make me think of what a fly might be viewing with all of it’s’ eyes on a subject.  It really changes your perspective of what you thought you were looking at and then viewing it with a different set of eyes. 
            I really admire David Hockney, because he still exudes a passion to grow as an artist.  I viewed many works of his and he still produces daily.  He has become completely wrapped up in using the I-pad as his new form medium to create his artwork.  He claims he can create an “I-pad” painting first thing in the morning and send it out to his friends for them to enjoy.  It isn’t so much about the recognition for him now, nor the money, but the mere satisfaction of making others happy by presenting them with some of his art.  He likes the idea of no messes involved and feels that Picasso and Van Gough would have been sold on the whole I-pad concept too.  What a fun man, David Hockney is.  I have enjoyed learning about and observing this man’s work.
I became very intrigued by David Hockney’s work after being exposed to some of his photo collages shown in class.  The assignment of creating our own form of photographic collage became a new interest of mine.  I now catch myself checking out my environment with a new set of eyes of how the visual space presented in front of me would be fun to explore by taking multiple photos of it.  The outcome was so challenging and engaging for me while attempting this feat. I love the subjects that David Hockney used to photograph for his collages.  They were rather simple, but made them more significant when presented in the collage form.
He is a seventy-three year old British artist who has been incredibly influential over the past fifty-plus years.  He was claimed as a pop-artist, but I am not sure he cared for the title.  His main medium is oil paints, yet he has an array of other works done in other mediums such as print making, sketching, photography and presently has fallen in love with the I-pad as his new form of medium.
            Throughout his life he chose subject matters that were personal to him.  He painted many pool scenes, people he knew and other scenic views that were of significance to him.  I enjoyed viewing his different phases of art he created starting from the fifties to the present.  I noticed in several of his pieces, mainly starting from the seventies, was his approach of creating his visual space with grids that would help break up space.  A lot of his pieces are more than one panels joined together such as his painting of “Schwimmbad Mitternacht (Paper Pool II)” 1978.  In the 1980s he really started to focus on his photography as a “concept of naturalism by representing things as they were actually being viewed.” He grew to love this kind of work, but didn’t want to become too dependent on his photographs as an artist.  He created amazing Polaroid collages that had the white frame around them so when pieced together it gave a grid affect to help break up the picture.  He than just took multiple photographs with a regular camera of a subject such as a highway he titled, “Pearl blossom”, a chair, a desk, a telephone pole and many other scenes.  To try and explain the outcome would be hard.  I can only say that his collages make me think of what a fly might be viewing with all of it’s’ eyes on a subject.  It really changes your perspective of what you thought you were looking at and then viewing it with a different set of eyes. 
            I really admire David Hockney, because he still exudes a passion to grow as an artist.  I viewed many works of his and he still produces daily.  He has become completely wrapped up in using the I-pad as his new form medium to create his artwork.  He claims he can create an “I-pad” painting first thing in the morning and send it out to his friends for them to enjoy.  It isn’t so much about the recognition for him now, nor the money, but the mere satisfaction of making others happy by presenting them with some of his art.  He likes the idea of no messes involved and feels that Picasso and Van Gough would have been sold on the whole I-pad concept too.  What a fun man, David Hockney is.  I have enjoyed learning about and observing this man’s work.


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