Video No. 6016. English Language Pal VHS.
An Exploration of Art on Film.
Directed by Alan Benson.
David Hockney (b.1937) is one of the most popular contemporary British artists. He won early critical acclaim as a student at the Royal College of Art; a move to the USA followed, and Hockney's vibrant images of the archetypal Californian private swimming pool, painted during the 1960s, have become classic icons of post-war art. Their sun-drenched, often homo-erotic ambience marked a decisive break with earlier British painting, and Hockney quickly became a legendary personality beyond the confines of the art-world.
In this extended interview, filmed at the major Tate Gallery retrospective exhibition of Hockney's work in 1988, he emerges as a highly entertaining commentator on his own work and on the artistic process generally. Beginning with a portrait of his own father, painted at the age of 17, and progressing to his experiments in the mid-1980s with complex photographic collages, Hockney illuminates his changing stylistic influences and working processes.
Images that have become standard reference-points in recent art-history, such as the early 'We Two Boys Clinging Together' and the double portrait 'Mr And Mrs Clark And Percy', are enlivened by Hockney's wit and insight. He explores the impulses behind his handling of colour and methods of composition, acknowledging his debts to earlier artists, from Hogarth to Matisse and above all Picasso.
This film focuses on key works in Hockney's prolific output, providing a relaxed overview of one of the most brilliant careers in modern art.
