As the leaves start falling from the trees and the park closes earlier, I'm reflecting on the melancholy of a year ago, when 'Bigger Trees Near Warter' had had its final week on public view at the Ferens. Here are my 'Mr Hockney In Hull' blog posts from that week reprinted...
'25 Trees between Bridlington School and Morrison's supermarket along Bessingby Road in the Semi-Egyptian style'.
For anyone who, like me, is feeling a bit melancholy about 'Bigger Trees Near Warter' being uprooted from the Ferens after 18th September before being replanted in Bradford in October, news of a new exhibition opening on 14th September at Salts Mill, Saltaire, will hopefully cheer you up. Martin Wainwright writes on The Northerner blog that '25 Trees and Other Pictures by David Hockney', is "a preview of Hockney's vast Royal Academy tribute" (which opens in January 2012) which also "celebrates the 'extraordinary ordinary'" and also features "previously unseen portraits of Yorkshire friends and scores of the artist's iPad paintings which are not going to London". The exhibition will also feature a triptych with the above, unmistakably Hockneyesque title, each picture measuring 27 feet long, depicting the scene in summer, autumn and winter. It will be very interesting to see how it compares to the triptych arrangement of 'Bigger Trees..' at the Ferens. And with a title like that, it must surely be easier to find those 25 trees than the ones near Warter.
For anyone who, like me, is feeling a bit melancholy about 'Bigger Trees Near Warter' being uprooted from the Ferens after 18th September before being replanted in Bradford in October, news of a new exhibition opening on 14th September at Salts Mill, Saltaire, will hopefully cheer you up. Martin Wainwright writes on The Northerner blog that '25 Trees and Other Pictures by David Hockney', is "a preview of Hockney's vast Royal Academy tribute" (which opens in January 2012) which also "celebrates the 'extraordinary ordinary'" and also features "previously unseen portraits of Yorkshire friends and scores of the artist's iPad paintings which are not going to London". The exhibition will also feature a triptych with the above, unmistakably Hockneyesque title, each picture measuring 27 feet long, depicting the scene in summer, autumn and winter. It will be very interesting to see how it compares to the triptych arrangement of 'Bigger Trees..' at the Ferens. And with a title like that, it must surely be easier to find those 25 trees than the ones near Warter.
Force of Nature
Reading the BBC news website this morning provided conclusive proof, not that it's needed, of just what a remarkable man Mr Hockney is. In the last week, he has given a press conference announcing a new Royal Academy show for 2012, casually revealed that he turned down an offer to paint the Queen because he "was very busy painting England actually. Her country.", while today '25 Trees and Other Pictures by David Hockney', featuring that breathtaking new triptych (follow the link below to see pictures and a short film) opened at Salts Mill, Saltaire. As if that's not enough, today the BBC reported that "The artist David Hockney has warned road labourers in his home town of Bridlington in Yorkshire that they are digging up one of his main sources of inspiration and a piece of art history. Hockney has taken roadwork managers to his studio to show them new paintings of Woldgate, an unspoilt country lane, and tell them not to do lasting damage...John O'Grady, communications manager for Northern Gas Networks, said he was "gobsmacked to be invited to the artist's studio to get a preview of works that will be on show at the Royal Academy
* Richard Hamilton, considered the founder of Pop Art, died yesterday, aged 89. He taught and influenced David Hockney and Peter Blake, and you can link to his obituaries through the link below too.
All roads lead back to Mr Hockney
Having just left Ferens after my penultimate 'Bigger Trees..' invigilation stint, I finally got round to buying this month's 'Harper's Bazaar' magazine. I bought it on the strength of the 'Alexa Chung meets Marianne Faithfull' coverline, and articles on Lucien Freud and Jenny Saville (plus a gorgeous Tracey Emin neon artwork illustrating a Jeanette Winterson story). So plenty to make it worth buying. It was only when I began reading the Alexa Chung article that I discovered an even more exciting reason, by chance - the photos accompanying the article were shot in David Hockney's 1960s Notting Hill flat! As Stephanie Rafanelli writes "it was here that Hockney lived and worked in his 'Young Contemporaries' days (the 1961 RBA Galleries exhibition alongside Peter Blake that marked the beginnings of British Pop Art), and where Andy Warhol later attended the artist's notorious Saturday tea parties, filming the Swinging London scene". To see the place (still intact) where things I wrote about on this blog happened was yet another thrilling insight into Mr Hockney's world.
Later that evening, I was checking my emails, and had another one - via Artist and Illustrators magazine's monthly email. It linked to Editor Steve Pill's blog post about the press conference for next year's Royal Academy show. It's well worth reading (follow the link below), and I especially loved this observation: "in some special cases being creative isn't something that you can turn on and off, it's an unstoppable torrent that pours out at all times." Quite. The magazine will be running a full report and interview in its November issue.
http://artistsandillustratorsmag.blogspot.com/2011/09/david-hockney-show.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=The+Chelsea+Magaz
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