VENICE, CA.- L.A. Louver opened a solo exhibition of new work by David Hockney. Developed by Hockney over the past two years in his Los Angeles studio, the new works explore the relationship between painting and photography, the artist’s interest in depicting perspective, as well as his fascination with using new technology to create images.
“Painters have always known there is something wrong with perspective. The problem is the foreground and the vanishing point… Well not now. Digital photography can free us from a chemically imposed perspective that has lasted for 180 years.” – David Hockney, Los Angeles, 2015
Throughout his 50-year career, experimentation with technology has been at the core of Hockney’s work and curiosity. At 77 years of age, Hockney continues his relentless endeavor to develop new methods of image making. The photographs in the exhibition, described by Hockney as “photographic drawings,” are comprised of hundreds of images, all captured at close range. The collection of digital images is then seamlessly stitched together and enhanced to construct a singular composition, but with multiple vanishing points. This approach echoes Hockney’s earlier photographic collages that used processed film prints, one of the most recognized being Pearblossom Hwy., 11-18th April, 1986 #2 (Collection of J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA). Both traditional and digital methods elevate photography as a medium to portray altered perspective, and the notion of time within a pictorial space. However, Hockney’s new technique embraces the possibilities of the digital age, and pushes the sense of spatial dimension in these innovative images beyond that of their chemical counterparts. “Everything in the photograph is taken very close. Each photograph has a vanishing point, so instead of just one I get many vanishing points,” says Hockney. “It is this that gives them an almost 3D effect without the glasses. I think this opens up photography into something new.”
After a decade-long residence in East Yorkshire producing landscape works of the English countryside, Hockney returned to Los Angeles in 2013 and immediately began a productive period of painting in the studio. These paintings, including portraits of friends, studio assistants and visitors, as well as studio interiors, informed the conceptual basis for Hockney’s new photographic series. Painting allowed Hockney to determine subject and composition, but moreover, it provided the visual understanding of how to frame each photograph. A selection of these paintings is also on view.
Painting and Photography marks Hockney’s 16th solo exhibition at L.A. Louver since 1978.
A fully illustrated catalogue, designed by the artist, has been published on the occasion of the exhibition.
