Hands-up, I confess that this is a recycled post, but I thought it would be a good idea to bring my past reviews over here to get going. This was written after a trip to the Hockney Exhibition at the portrait gallery last year:
Hockney's works aren't just about physical observations of the individual, but are in fact highly evocative psychological studies of subjects, their relationships with one another and with Hockney himself. Rather than being unsubtle and cold (which what I thought on initial viewing), they're in fact quite intriguing. One that I particularly fell for was this above, "My parents".
It's strange, on first view I thought that this was an unhappy depiction of dysfunctional family life. And then I realised that in fact it's just an honest portrayal of an elderly couple and the differing relationship he has with each parent. His mother intently looks at her son at work and his father, whilst happy to pose, keeps himself occupied with an art journal. Their surroundings are seemingly sparce, but there's bright sunlight shining on both parents - the warmth of their skin tones and the bright tulips give a positivity to the piece.
When I came home I did a little more reading about Hockney and found a review claiming, "He can see deeper than the skin". Hockney would never paint a portrait without getting to know the individual first - he doesn't feel he can be true to the subject unless he has spoken to and understands the individuals. Perhaps you need to stand in front of the works themselves to fully realise this. But when you do, it's quite a fantastic experience.
