In pictures: David Hockney at the Royal Academy
- Published
A major exhibition of David Hockney's work is to be staged at the Royal Academy Of Arts this year. It will incorporate the first major display of new landscape works the artist has created over the last seven years. The 74-year-old said the paintings were inspired by the Yorkshire countryside.
The show, titled David Hockney: A Bigger Picture, will span 50 years, exploring the artist's fascination with landscape - including images he created while living in California, such as Pearlblossom Highway, seen above. Many of the paintings on display will be large-scale and most were created specifically for the exhibition.
The artist, who was born in Bradford, said he had returned to paint in Yorkshire because "it is a landscape I know from my childhood and it has meaning". He added that he realised the county could be a huge inspiration to his work about 10 years ago when it dawned on him what a "marvellous place" it was.
One of the highlights is a trio of new works, which Hockney began to work on in 2005 when he moved to the seaside resort of Bridlington. Some of the paintings included in the exhibition were first previewed at Salt's Mill in Saltaire, near Hockney's hometown of Bradford.
Hockney is also inspired by other artists. He saw Claude Lorrain's smoke-damaged 1656 painting The Sermon On The Mount in New York four years ago, and decided to restore it - not by cleaning and treating the canvas, but by painting an entirely new version. The result is The Sermon on the Mount II (After Claude), which will be shown at the Royal Academy.
The artist has a reputation for embracing new technology - from the Polaroid camera to the colour photocopier. Some of his recent works, including the above Arrival Of Spring In Woldgate, have been created using iPhones and iPads. Inkjet prints of pieces he has designed on the devices will be given a gallery of their own at the exhibition.
In September, Hockney revealed that he had been so busy working on other projects that he turned down the opportunity to paint the Queen. He also added that he prefers to only "paint people I know".
A series of films, which Hockney created using 18 cameras, will be displayed on multiple screens at the show. The Royal Academy said the footage would provide a "spellbinding visual experience".
A trail following Hockney's work is set to be launched in Yorkshire to tie in with the exhibition. The artist will reveal the location of some of his recent work across the region and the trail will mark those areas.
Last year, Hockney was appointed a member of the Order of Merit by the Queen - despite turning down a knighthood in 1990. Hockney had previously stated that "awards of any sort are a bit suspect".
Earlier this month, Hockney was reported to have criticised fellow artist Damien Hirst for using assistants to complete his works. But, since then, the Royal Academy issued a statement on Hockney's behalf, which said he had "not made any comments which imply criticism of another artist's working practices".
Hockney, who studied in Yorkshire at the Bradford School Of Art, first began establishing his reputation when his work was featured in the 1961 exhibition Young Contemporaries, which celebrated the birth of British pop art.
Hockney will be the first artist since the foundation of the Royal Academy to fill all of its galleries with new paintings. Galleries will be dedicated to motifs including hawthorn blossoms and trees in winter.
The Hockney exhibition, which runs from 21 January to 9 April, will be one of the countdown events to the London 2012 Festival, the culmination of the Cultural Olympiad.
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