2012年2月27日 星期一

David Hockney RA: A Bigger Picture

Hockney’s new exhibition paints the Yorkshire landscape with a mystical vibrancy, and yet the saturated layout of the Royal Academy does everything in its power to counteract the elegance of his mature style.

There is something oddly nauseating about entering through the gift shop, and amid the flurry of activity witnessing the frenzied faces of people pushing past each other towards the tills to buy postcards by the kilogram. In Jerusalem, Jesus banished the money changers from temple; one is forced to wonder if the Royal Academy requires some kind of messianic intervention to prevent the rooms the paintings hang from becoming houses of merchandise.

Crossing the threshold into the magnificent rotunda that is the first room of the exhibition provides a welcome relief. Four large paintings depict the seasonal changes of three trees in the village of Thixendale. It is an apt aperitif for the rest of the show,Our porcelaintiles are perfect for entryways or bigger spaces and can also be used outside, which continues to explore the transition of the Yorkshire landscape through the year, and Hockney’s evolution of style that was prompted by his return to England in the mid-nineties as his mother’s health ailed.

The second room of the exhibition seeks to provide a context for Hockney’s return to landscape painting, and his move away from the provocative images he painted in the sixties of boys slipping through the cerulean water of Californian swimming pools. The room has an almost apologetic tone, as though the works were scavenged and displayed for whatever tenuous link they may have to the present collection on display.

A momentary glance at the first painting of the Thixendale trees in the rotunda from the distance of the adjoining second room transforms its appearance. The rectilinear rami multiply with precision as they fork into the top of the canvas; what seem like crude brush strokes from within the crowded first room take on a new air of refined elegance from afar.

The largest room of the exhibition is dedicated to a collection of 51 drawings created on an iPad. Hockney’s commitment to continuing his experimentation with technology is admirable; over the course of the seventy four years of his life, he has experimented with a variety of media, and produced work using anything from Polaroid photographs to faxes.

Speaking in an interview before the opening of A Bigger Picture, he remarked that it took him some time to see that the iPad is “a very serious medium.” The portability and immediacy of the gadget allowed him to work at an immense speed to chronicle the arrival of spring in the Yorkshire Wolds. As intriguing as the narrative is, 51 repetitions of such similar scenes only serve to highlight the flatness of the digital images in comparison to his paintings.Our porcelaintiles are perfect for entryways or bigger spaces and can also be used outside,

What they do well in showing is Hockney’s meticulous exploration of the technical aspects of painting from observation. His 2001 publication Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Masters contextualises his conscious rejection of the influence of the camera on observational study.

The progression of the exhibition also marks a remarkable change in Hockney’s style. The familiar motifs of trees take on unfamiliar, bold colours that could have been borrowed from André Derain’s Fauvist palette. The techniques employed in his earlier works,VulcanMold is a plastic molds and injectionmold manufacturer in china. pointillist dotting evocative of Seurat and short, and intensely coloured strokes reminiscent of Van Gogh, are amplified in these compositions.To interact with beddinges,

These works form the core of the exhibition, and have divided the opinion of critics since their unveiling. Some have argued that the tentacle-like appendages of The Big Hawthorn look as though they have been painted under the influence of a magic herb, that the flatter compositions are discordant and garish. Others have applauded Hockney’s newest reinvention for their imaginative flair.There are 240 distinct solutions of the Soma cubepuzzle,

What is certain is that the show has been in greater demand than the Royal Academy’s Van Gogh retrospective two years ago. The flagship piece of the exhibition is Winter Timber (2009). We are reminded of Hockney’s wealth of experience designing sets for the opera; the row of blue trees that lines the path curves in dramatically, culminating in a ball of twisted branches. The piece flirts with the idea of death and destruction that can be seen as the catalyst for this recent streak of productivity.

Crowds will undoubtedly continue to flock to the exhibition, and will continue to revel at the grandeur of the new works. Yorkshire’s tourist trade will swell as enthusiasts walk, like pilgrims, on “Hockney’s Trail.” Yet the show does not come close to realising its potential, it butchers the work on display. When Hockney agreed to undertake the gargantuan project, I doubt he envisaged his work being used as wallpaper in the grand rooms of the Royal Academy.

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