The Atelier
Amid a flurry of exhibition activity in the U.S., the U.K., and Germany, Hockney continues to return to his Bridlington studio, now dubbed “The Atelier,” where he paints landscapes, capturing the countryside with increasing complexity and evermore brilliant colors.
Brushes on the iPhone
Hockney has been using an iPhone since 2007, mostly for texting, but his sister Margaret tells him about a new drawing app called Brushes. [NESTED]Hockney is entranced and soon masters it. Friends around the world begin receiving new works of art from Hockney’s iPhone.
I was aware immediately when I started drawing on the iPhone that it was a new medium—and not only a new medium, but also a very new way to distribute pictures .... One quickly realizes that it is a luminous medium and very good for luminous subjects. I began to draw the sunrise seen from my bed on the east coast of England. The iPhone was by my bed; it contained everything you needed .... I wouldn’t have drawn the sunrise with just a pencil and a piece of paper.
With the iPhone I often drew with my thumb. I could hold it in my right hand and my thumb could reach every corner of the screen as it was small and the fulcrum of the thumb is within the thumb .... I could then have a cigarette in my left hand to help me concentrate .... Who would have thought that the telephone would bring back drawing?
New York Exhibition
Hockney begins editioning portraits from his inkjet-printed computer drawing series. In October, he exhibits new paintings in his first major show in New York in over twelve years, David Hockney: Recent Paintings at PaceWildenstein. The double-venue exhibition features small and large oil on canvas paintings of woods, felled timber, blossoming hawthorn, and panoramas of the East Yorkshire hills. Stephen Mueller writes in Art in America: “Color ranges from fanciful to outrageous—red shadows, lavender trail, turquoise tree trunk .... [Hockney] seems to be enjoying himself immensely, and we share the pleasure.”
Exhibitions
Solo
- Drawing in a Printing Machine, L.A. Louver, Venice, CA, USA (Feb 26–Mar 28).
- Nur Natur/Just Nature, Kunsthalle Würth, Schwäbisch Hall, Germany (Apr 26–Sep 27); catalogue.
- Drawing in a Printing Machine, Annely Juda Fine Art, London, UK (May 1–Jul 11); catalogue.
- Bigger Trees Near Warter, Tate Britain, London, UK (Oct 9, 2009–Apr 18, 2010).
- Portraits, Pace Prints, New York, NY, USA (Oct 23–Nov 28).
- Paintings 2006–2009, PaceWildenstein, New York, NY, USA (Oct 23–Dec 24), also shown at West 25th Street, New York (Oct 29–Dec 24); catalogue.
- 1960-1968: A Marriage of Styles, Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham, UK (Nov 14, 2009–Jan 24, 2010); catalogue.
Group
- Stage Pictures: Drawing for Performance, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, USA (Mar 11–Sep 7).
- Reflections/Refractions: Self-Portraiture in the Twentieth Century, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C., USA (Apr 10–Aug 16); catalogue.
- I Am Anna: An Homage to Anna Ancher, Skagens Museum, Skagen, Denmark (May 2–Aug 31).
- The Cocker Spaniel and other tools for international understanding, Kunsthalle zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany (Oct 25, 2009–Jan 10, 2010); catalogue.
Publications
Publications
- David Hockney: Drawing in a Printing Machine, Annely Juda Fine Art, London.
- David Hockney: Recent Paintings, PaceWildenstein, New York.
Film
Film
- David Hockney: A Bigger Picture, 60 min., directed by Bruno Wollheim.