An uplifting celebration of spring and the power of art against
lockdown: Hockney's new iPad drawings, in an intimate sketchbook
format
A New York Magazine 2021 holiday gift guide pick
At the beginning of 2020, just as global COVID-19 restrictions were
coming into force, David Hockney was at his new house, studio and garden
in Normandy. From there, he witnessed the arrival of spring, and
recorded the blossoming of the surrounding landscape on his iPad, a
method of drawing he has been using for over a decade.
Drawing outdoors was an antidote to the anxiety of the moment for
Hockney; "we need art, and I do think it can relieve stress," he says.
This uplifting publication--produced to accompany a major exhibition at
the Royal Academy of Arts--includes 116 of these new iPad drawings and
shows to full effect Hockney's singular skill in capturing the
exuberance of nature. The book begins with an interview with the show's
curator, Edith Devaney, in which Hockney discusses his heralding of the
spring. It also features augmented reality, an exciting technology that
enables smartphones and tablets to recognize printed images and play a
related film or animation.
David Hockney (born 1937) is one of the most significant British
artists of the 20th century. He attended the Royal College of Art in
London and exhibited in one of the first British Pop art shows. In 1964
he moved to Los Angeles, where he lived for many years before returning
to his native Yorkshire for a time. In addition to painting, Hockney has
pursued photography, collage and printmaking as well as digital
illustration. He lives and works in Normandy, France.
