Download - David Hockney
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.