David Hockney was born on July 9, 1937 in Bradford, England. He was interested in art from an early age, particularly admiring Picasso and Matisse’s work. Fortunately for Hockney, his parents encouraged his creative dreams and he ended up attending Bradford College of Art from 1953 to 1957. In his early career Hockney experimented with different forms, abstract expressionism being one of his interests. He then started incorporating fragments of poems in his work, nodding back to his love for reading. After moving to Los Angeles in 1963 he gained some traction for painting the swimmings pools of L.A.. Works such as “Bigger Splash”, still involved a more realist style. As his art evolved however, Hockney would begin to play with an expressionistic style. He also painted numerous interiors and exteriors of California homes. These paintings were bold, coloruful, ussualy involving pattern and unafraid to add a little distortion to the scene.

Hockney enjoyed deploying a “joiner” technique , or the assemblage of Polaroid photos loud out in a grid. He first began to incorporate this technique with his interiors and exteriors of California homes. This technique would later become a signature technique of his, and helped acquire great fame. Ironically, this technique was discovered on accident when Hockney assembled a bunch of reference photos absent-mindedly to paint one afternoon. It was only after he’d finished the painting that he realized the collage as an art form itself, and began to create more.

As of late, Hockney began incorporating technology into his art. He started using digital painting apps and even released an exhibition of these digital paintings in 2011. As a young artist, I find it incredibly inspiring how Hockney went on to explore digital media to the extent that he did. He seems to have a truly unbridled creative soul that highly valued experimentation. I love the playful element l in his art and his dominant use of colour. When I look at Hockney’s pieces I feel reminded of the joy that can be attached to the creative process.