An exhibition featuring new and recent works by David Hockney will open at the Serpentine North Gallery this month.
Among the works to be presented, Hockney’s monumental frieze A Year in Normandie is notably comprised of over 100 digital paintings from his iPad, and will be unveiled and put on view for the first time in central London from 12 March.
A site-specific mural will also be exhibited in the garden at Serpentine North, based centrally in Hyde Park.
In a comment to press, Hockney, 88, described feeling that his duty as an artist is to “overcome and alleviate the sterility of despair”.
Martin Kemp, a historian and former co curator of a Hockney exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, described Hockney as ‘compellingly perceptive’ and said “his visual experiments have involved a highly conscious dialogue between human observation and technical means to imitate the seen world”.
Hockney is renowned as one of the most influential artists of the last century. Famous paintings of his include Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy, A Bigger Splash, and Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures).
Born in Bradford, Yorkshire, Hockney is one of Britains most popular artists. His work is typically characterised by a unique approach to perspective, which he often challenges by using multiple viewpoints in one setting.
His use of vivid and unnatural colours is distinctive, and inspired by 1960s British Pop Art.
When lockdown struck in spring of 2020, Hockney pivoted to digital paintings with a belief that the iPad’s tools enabled him to work swiftly and intuitively.
He works with a bespoke brushes app which was created for him by a mathematician; it enables him to create works of art quickly and efficiently, and to capture the essence of his scenes by skilfully recording changes in light and weather.
His impressionistic approach to interpreting nature was facilitated by his own garden in the Normandy region of France.
The region captured his attention during a four day road trip through France in 2018, which prompted him to move to a small, idyllic village called Beuvron-en-Auge. Here, he paints en plein air, much like his impressionistic predecessors, in order to respond to subtle nuances of his natural surroundings.
Hans Ulrich Obrist, chief curator and artistic director of Serpentine, said: “The frieze offers a deeply personal meditation on the passage of time.
“The changing seasons will resonate throughout the gallery and a new mural in the garden of Serpentine North highlights the transition from spring to summer as the surrounding landscape undergoes its own renewal.”
His works have been previously exhibited worldwide, including at Tate Britain, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Serpentine, based in Kensington Gardens, has a year-long programme of free exhibitions, educational talks and other events which attract up to 1.2 million visitors annually.
CEO of Serpentine, Bettina Korek, said David Hockney’s work will invite visitors to slow down and reconnect with the world around us, and is delighted that viewers will be able to encounter his works freely in Hyde park.
A Year in Normandie and Some Other Thoughts about Painting will be exhibited at the Serpentine North gallery from 12 March to 23 August. Admission will be free to all visitors.
Featured image credit: Composite iPad painting © David Hockney
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