David Hockney’s new exhibition is a celebration of art’s future

Beloved British artist David Hockney may be 85, but he is still pushing the boundaries of what art can do. 

Known for his bold use of colour, astute portraiture, and intrepid depictions of queerness, David Hockney is a national treasure.

His work has pushed boundaries in every way that art can; politically, socially, aesthetically. And, in recent years, his use of the iPad has raised new questions about the capabilities of technology in the art world.

At 85, Hockney is far from finished with experimental formats. iPad in hand, and yellow Crocs on feet, the artist has now unveiled an entirely immersive display of his art in Kings Cross.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vA_I0qwnh_w&ab_channel=VanGoghMuseum

Hosted by Lightroom, the show will feature works from across Hockney’s oeuvre, including his famous swimming pools, life-size double portraits, and recent digital landscapes created on the iPad.

The show follows in the footsteps of others created for artists Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet, whose works are also famous for their use of colour and texture.

Lightroom is a space designed with immersive experience in mind, featuring four-storeys with huge screens and all-encompassing sound systems.

‘There’s a lot of new technology that people really aren’t exploring just yet’ Hockney said when discussing his iPhone paintings in 2011.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59SRg7xEKik&ab_channel=Lightroom

By embracing, rather than resisting the digital world, Hockney has become a pioneer of modern art – despite his career starting in the 1960s when he left the RCA.

It’s nice to see the ostensible boundary between technology and painting dissolved in this way. Peppered with rigid systems of thought, stylistic genres, and lofty academic narratives, the artworld can often feel inaccessible.