David Hockney
David Hockney
David Hockney, OM CH RAis an English painter, draughtsman, printmaker, stage designer and photographer. An important contributor to the Pop art movement of the 1960s, he is considered one of the most influential British artists of the 20th century...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPhotographer
Date of Birth9 July 1937
giving smoking littles
OH, I LIKE smoking, I do. I smoke for my health, my mental health. Tobacco gives you little pauses, a rest from life. I don't suppose anyone smoking a pipe would have road rage, would they?
art matter painting
All painting, no matter what you are painting, is abstract in that it's got to be organized.
art mean people
The moment you can learn to deal with homosexuality in art, it's quite an exciting moment, just as in a sense when people 'come out' it's quite an exciting moment. It means they become aware of their desires, and can deal with them in a remarkably honest way.
thinking seeing
I think I am seeing more clearly now than ever,
independent
I did come from a pretty independent-minded family.
wall thinking sketching
In one gallery they actually had a notice which said No Sketching. How obnoxious! I said, How do you think these things got on the walls if there was no sketching?
tree remember sometimes
It sometimes takes a foreigner to come and see a place and paint it. I remember someone saying they had never really noticed the palm trees here until I painted them.
art mind world
Anyway I feel myself a bit on the edge on the art world, but I don't mind, I'm just pursuing my work in a very excited way. And there isn't really a mainstream anymore, is there?
ipads joy letters
I have got an iPad, what a joy! Van Gogh would have loved it, and he could have written his letters on it as well.
knows bits
I'm a bit claustrophobic, I know that now.
strong swimming men
Water in swimming pools changes its look more than in any other form its colour can be man-made and its dancing rhythms reflect not only the sky but, because of its transparency, the depth of the water as well. If the water surface is almost still and there is a strong sun, then dancing lines with the colours of the spectrum appear everywhere.
interesting people doubt
I've no doubt that those photographs i took will make people look at everything in a more interesting way - the little tear on one piece of paper, the shadow on another. But good painting has always done that - made you see things. And the most ordinary can be the most extraordinary.
hollywood bradford wells
Well, in Bradford I could say I was brought up in Bradford and Hollywood
cities america london
I was 18 when I first visited London, I'm very provincial like that, but I must confess the moment I got to America I thought: This is the place. It was more open, with 24-hour cities and pubs and restaurants that didn't close.