David Hockney was born in 1937 in Bradford, England. He won a scholarship into

Bradford Grammar School in 1948, where he decided that he wanted to be an artist.

In 1953, he started at the College of Art, where he began painting with oils. He saw art

as a personal thing, and his paintings were often abstract. In 1957, Hockney graduated

with a National Diploma in Design Examination. He then enrolled in the Painting

School of the Royal College in London two years later.

In 1961, Hockney travelled to America, where he was recognised for his artwork. He

moved to California, where the new environment and scenery greatly admired him.

In 1967, Hockney became interested in photography, and from the early seventies until

the mid eighties, he worked on his joiner images, which he took with a Polaroid camera

and arranging the photos into a collage.

This photo joiner shows an empty courtyard. The montage

projects a sense of calmness, as the main focuses are the

trees, and because all is quiet and simple in the courtyard.

The street near the centre uses converging lines, and the left

tree in in the left third.

This joiner shows an American highway. On the right hand side, you have

mostly road signs, while the left hand has only scenery and rubbish. I think the

joiner is about driving or a journey, and how drivers and passengers often see

and focus on different things (for example, the driver is always thinking about

signs, speed and direction, and passengers are focused on the scenery and can

pick out different objects along the journey).

This picture shows a man

sitting down and looking out

of a window. Outside,

there’s a row of houses and

some flowers. I think it

expresses a desire for

freedom, and possibly how

Hockney himself feels

trapped and longs to break

free some social norms.

This joiner is of a man playing the piano. The arms on either side gives

the picture a sense of balance, and the different shots of the keys at

various angles gives it movement. I think the joiner is trying to display

musical expression, as pianos are instruments usually thought as

classical.

This picture shows a middle

aged man sitting on an

armchair in a slightly

cluttered room. The man is

placed on one of the

intersections between the

middle and left third, and the

man wears a troubled

expression. He’s on his own,

so the joiner could be about

the loneliness of growing

old.