David Hockney: Perspective, Space, & Digital Media

A look into the paper written by Maia Hippard-Roff

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Throughout this course we have defined what is meant by Art and Technology as well as touched on the many facets of how it manifests in both art and artistic creation in modern culture. One aspect I found most interesting was the history of the invention of the photograph and how painters of the time both responded to and utilized this new tool. Photography and painting are what I find to be the most interesting artforms and David Hockney combines both in his later work. What I learned through this class is that both painting and photography share a much more common bond throughout history than I would have expected. This is what made me want to pursue some of my favorite experiences with art in a museum space for this project. As someone who enjoys art rather than creating it, I spend as much time as I can visiting art exhibitions to experience what an artist has created for its viewer. As we discussed in class, an artist is not just making something for you to look at but something to experience; this is especially the case during the height of the machine aesthetic. I will not be focusing on the machine aesthetic itself but instead how the classic painter David Hockney embraced the development of technology in his art and utilized it to convey his message and give the audience a true immersive experience.

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“In an interview with singer Graham Nash, Hockney discusses his interest in these saturated and rich colors and how he foresaw the printing process as being integral to this digital age” (Caldwell, 2018).

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After experimenting with abstract landscapes, Hockney pursued his interest in new technologies through the representation of space in a series of multi-paneled panoramic works during the early 21st century. Among these were drawings done on an iPad. Hockney uses landscapes to convey point of view and use of space to create an immersive experience. This time the artist's gaze is moving across a scene and he is replicating the experience of that in his paintings. The giant panoramic paneled landscape creates an immersive feeling because it is impossible to take it in at a glance.

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Hockney used a still video camera to create portraits, which allowed him to see color in a different way; instead of seeing color through the chemical printing process, he was seeing it through the mechanical and electronic process. Hockney’s photographic knowledge enhances his painting by creating a sort of photo-fantasy instead of photo-realism. Pictures cannot convey such saturated color by itself and that is what Hockney is trying to do with his paintings through the use of the photographic printing process.

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I am focusing on this artwork because it is a clear example of how an artist who classically uses painting has evolved throughout time to incorporate technological innovations into their work. This is reminiscent of when painters in the 19th century first began using photography as means to better express what their own eyes are seeing in their artwork. It opened up a more rich conception of perspective, as discussed in the Peter Galassi reading for class.

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David Hockney Interview: I Am a Space Freak

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This artwork surrounds the viewer with images of the changing seasons creating multiple moments within the same time and space. “By walking through Woldgate Woods, the viewer is acutely aware that this is time shared with Hockney as much as it is about one’s own transcendental experience” (Hanna, 2018).

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The David Hockney Foundation: The Four Seasons, Woldgate Woods (Spring 2011, Summer 2010, Autumn 2010, Winter 2010)

We advance appreciation and understanding of visual art and culture, through preservation, exhibition, and publication of David Hockney’s wo

I believe Hockney’s incorporation of technology into his artistic sensibility and practice is what has made his artworks so unforgettable. This work highlights how Hockney is experimenting with his admiration for space, both physically and conceptually. While his previous photo drawings are impressive in terms of technological achievement, it seems as though these many works now find themselves reanimated within a digital landscape. Hockney is and has always been a master of spatiality through his eye for color, linear perspective, and depth (Hanna, 2018). 

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Here he “used multiple cameras simultaneously to capture a single scene, which he then displays across eighteen flat-screen monitors. The lenses of the cameras point in different directions, resulting in multiple perspectives that occasionally overlap and are out of sync” (deYoung, 2020). Hockney calls this a cubist movie, which relates to the Leger reading in how the lines between screens and out of sync movement brings forth the beauty of the object that is being shown, in this case nature. The changing viewpoints in this particular digital video installation elicit some of his earlier work in abstract photo collages.

Still from Seven Yorkshire Landscape Videos, 2011. Eighteen digital videos synchronized and presented on eighteen 55-inch NEC screens to compromise a single artwork.