Let's write about art. Love Life 07. David Hockney

I am going to continue with the journals and in between I am going to post other travel and Paris posts related. I would love to post twice a week but it’s impossible for me because of the time. 

I don’t know if I read a lot of blogs or not, what I do know is that the ones I read have a serious lack of posts about art. Bloggers write about almost anything, but not about art, which is really weird, and it's bad, since well-known bloggers travel a lot and when travelling it’s usual to see art. I didn’t get to study art, even if I make artistic photography for a living, but I love art, I need art, and whenever I travel I try to go not only to the usual museums but also to smaller ones, which are my favorites, and seasonal exhibitions.


I do regret going to some museums, specially those that are mainly about contemporary art; contemporary art is quite difficult, sad, shocking (contemporary, NOT modern). Still I never leave a museum nor an exhibition feeling not satisfied, quite the contrary, I feel I got to know something that goes beyond all the frivolities of travel, something that’s culturally deeper and aesthetically different. Yes, I am one of those people who have cried standing in front of a work of art, one of those people who can stand for an hours looking at a single painting, one of those people who feels understood in complex mental and emotional aspects in a work of art, one of those people who have felt some sort of unique connection, spiritual or religious peace with a work of art.


The day we went to the Pompidou center in Paris I had this awful, annoying cold that also included some fever, the temporary exhibit was a retrospective of David Hockney’s work from his beginnings to his most recent works. I only had to get in and walk a bit in this exhibit and I swear to God my cold went away, I was moved in such a way I forgot all of the flu’s symptoms. I must insist I didn’t study art but I will take a chance and give some personal opinions.

David Hockney is an English pop artist and photographer which has been one of the leading artists of his school, specially in the 60s, and he has lived in California for a long time.

The first impression of Hockney’s art to me was a feeling of happiness, I think it is because of its bold and stunning colors, its warm and relaxed scenic themes and I also think it is because of the extra large format of his work, super huge. Large spaces, large people, huge canvases. Like most of the people I liked the swimming pool series; there is something about pools, I know about a photographer who makes photos of swimming pools, specifically about its water, and I understand, doesn’t it happen to you that when you go to a swimming pool you stand there in the edge of the water, looking at it as hypnotized? There’s something quite comfortable, relaxing and attractive about swimming pool’s water under sunlight or under a lightbulb in the night, the shapes that water and light create, the reflections, the movement, that incredible saturated blue color in the water, that also contrasts with the blue of the sky and make it look like a single family of things in the universe. Well, Hockney knows how to express all of this perfectly.



What impressed me the most about Hockney is the way he handles color, color is fascinating, I feel particularly attracted to it because I manage color a lot in my photos, I transform colors completely to achieve what I want, it’s a digital work that takes the photo out of its original reality through color. Besides his blues and corals, I was really amazed by his greens. Green is a really difficult color in art, in photography, in everything! It’s a color that’s right there in nature but it’s almost impossible to transport to art in a decent or admiring way. This genius here made it and it’s overwhelming to see the greens in his paintings. The coral is absolutely gorgeous, a poem, specially in the next painting, it's a shame because the color in this digital image is not even near of what I saw, the coral was intense and quite sweet.


The people in his work is really odd, and really big! some kind of inexpressive, It reminds me of Hopper and the waiting, the stillness, the nothing. Man alone as another part of the scenery without being more or less important than the mountains, the pools, the sky. Really American, even if he’s English.



A little piece of trivia to finish: Hockney has synesthesia: he sees colors when he listens to music and he has done this to create sets of ballets and operas, isn’t it absolutely wonderful? I just couldn’t be happier with this exhibition, and yes, I stole it’s name exhibition for this blog, I am not that creative. Now, go see some art and write about art, please! To the next time!



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