A Woman Defined

Art & Culture by Mahvash Mossaed

David Hockney at LA Louver Gallery

August 19, 2014

David Hockney’s “Arrival of Spring” at LA Louver Gallery | July 9 – August 29 | http://www.lalouver.com

Looking back is another way of going back home, where all our older memories of the paintings by David Hockney are laid and are hidden. The truth is we are all over-joyed that he, once again, is taking his old magical tubes of paints yet pulling out new paint brushes, this time from his iPad, with which to create magic. Nevertheless, it is all exactly how we remember he painted in the past: vibrant, passionate, alive, and positively sunny.

I have always cherished the books by David Hockney that I own in my library. During all these years, as I would flip through their pages, I would softly remember my own half-forgotten memories. I would then think to myself, “No one can really say it and paint it like David Hockney does.” He is like a one-time prophet through whom God once spoke, and the words which came out were the mightiest message to be heard by the tribe of art lovers. His paintings deliberately mean to touch everyone’s heart, for they are grand and magical. You feel as though right after he has said it all through his paintings, there is silence and meditation. After all, how can you ever top perfection? All there is left to do after flying to the highest summit is to be in awe of the grandness and the genius of what has been spoken to us – all through his paint, brush, color, and energy – and is forever engraved in our hearts. Looking at Hockney’s paintings is as though we are listening to his words of images while he sings them in a perfect tune and harmony. He mesmerizes us all.

Now we are back to experience it all in the new exhibition, David Hockney: Arrival of Spring, at LA Louver Gallery. We can all stand in line once again to get some more of his blues, greens, reds, pinks, and oranges; but this time, we can easily observe a different underlying energy in his lines and his brush strokes.

I think in his new paintings, David Hockney sees himself as a man who is looking in the mirror and thinking to himself, “Oh, even though my hair has turned gray, and I can see a few deep lines on my forehead, I am certain that the fire in my heart is still there, alive and burning.” That’s the way I see it too.

About the Artist
Known for his photo collages and paintings of Los Angeles swimming pools, David Hockney is considered one of the most influential British artists of the 20th century.

Born in Bradford, England, in 1937, David Hockney attended art school in London before moving to Los Angeles in the 1960s. There, he painted his famous swimming pool paintings. In the 1970s, Hockney began working in photography, creating photo collages he called joiners. He continues to create and exhibit art, and in 2011 he was voted the most influential British artist of the 20th century. Read more: http://www.biography.com/people/david-hockney-9340738#synopsis

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