Studio Sunday: David Hockney
Today’s Studio Sunday looks at David Hockney’s work space. Hockney began his career in the 1960’s and eventually proved himself to be one of the most influential British artists of the 20th century.
Hockney is a figurative painter whose works range stylistically from hyper-realistic to highly abstracted. His subject matter has ranged from urban, suburban and pastoral landscapes to domestic scenes and candid portraits, to rough, expressionist figures with text accents. Though some of his very early work used darker, earthy tones, he quickly became associated with the Pop Art movement, and many of his paintings are brightly coloured.
Hockney was born in England and moved between England and California for the past several decades of his career. In recent years the artist has come to reside full-time in his home in Hollywood. His Hollywood home studio, pictured below, appears bright, clean and very open. His studio is obviously much larger and better equipped than the one pictured in the above photo, taken in the 60’s. Despite this, Hockney seems to have maintained a similar method of working and organization. In the earlier photo several sketches and small studies can be seen affixed to the wall near the door – in the Hollywood studio, studies appear to line the walls, going all the way back behind the staircase. Hockney has a wide selection of brushes on his trolley, and the curtain in the back of the room looks as though it might be a space for models to change. It appears as though the artist found a more comfortable chair, too!
I’m struck by how neat both the studios look – regardless of size, both of these studio spaces look like pleasant places to work.
