David Hockney: Nature on Acid?

The Royal Academy’s latest blockbuster showcases a colossal selection of works by David Hockney RA, portraying his career long engagement with the natural landscape. Much of the exhibition is taken up with large-scale works depicting the landscape of Hockney’s childhood in the Yorkshire Wolds. Hockney’s manipulation of space is translated to the canvas through broad swathes of lurid colour giving the works a mesmerising, almost hypnotic effect. His fearless use of bright colours to construct the natural beauty of the British countryside is reminiscent of the Impressionists bold application of unmixed pigments.

'Winter Timber 2009'

 Hockney’s daring use of colour is joyful, full of energy and promise. Many of the works are large-scale rural scenes, and are arrangement of several canvases placed together. The work that has been assaulting our eyes from Tube posters for months, ‘Winter Timber 2009’ has every crevice of canvas filled with vivid colours, a long line of trees drawing us in through the winding path. These floor to ceiling works have an almost Rothko-esque effect. The spectator is sucked into a whirlwind of colour and movement.

'Three Trees near Thixendale Winter 2002

Several scenes are repeated a number of times, each depicting a different season. Here, Hockney’s incredible use of colour comes into its own, using blood orange and berry red for autumn, then soft lavender and palest blue for spring. The collage of paintings that depict different countryside scenes in Yorkshire create an aura of peace and tranquillity, yet the expressive use of colour gives them an energy and alertness that sums up an almost child-like enthusiasm. This celebration of a very British image seems to tap into a distinct nostalgia for a re-engagement with nature itself. Indeed these Yorkshire landscapes are reminiscent of any countryside walk in Britain, and certainly reminded me intensely of my childhood in Wiltshire. This shared experience of the natural world makes it easy for people to relate to Hockney’s work.

One of Hockney's Ipad paintings

Hockney also engages with new mediums that succeed in bringing his depiction of the natural landscape into the 21^st century. His much anticipated ipad paintings have created quite a stir. In a time when many artists are rejecting the proliferation of new media as something that downgrades the art of sketching and drawing, Hockney embraces it with open arms. With around fifty of these ipad creations increased in size and printed on paper, it is like stepping into a forest gland in a soft summer light. However, I feel these ‘paintings’ lack the intensity and passion of his oil works, and seem to be really about engaging new audiences with exciting new mediums.

Another medium I feel was much more successful was his use of video art as a highly evocative insight to the peace that can be experienced when contemplating a countryside scene. With eighteen individual video panels displaying a different time frame for the same woodland scene, the distorting movement cleverly recreates the movement of the trees being blown by the wind. In this way, it is much more indicative of the multi point vision that we actually use to see the world around us.   

Hockney has undoubtedly succeeded in reconstructing the nostalgia of the natural world for the 21^st century audience. His works do not shy away from making a statement, and his joyful use of colour effectively construct a positive nostalgia for the British countryside. The vibrancy of his works are utterly captivating, and his almost paint-by-numbers technique is a bold and modern approach to the depiction of the traditional landscape.