AFP, LONDON
British artist David Hockney, one of the most influential and defining figures in contemporary art whose paintings captured the world in brilliant color, has died aged 88, his publicist announced on Friday.Tributes poured in for the 1960s pop art pioneer who established himself as a globally renowned painter and master draughtsman, and kept experimenting and exhibiting right up until his death.“I think I’ve something to say to people — that’s why,” he said in his last major interview.
British artist David Hockney poses during the presentation of his exhibition David Hockney: A Wider Perspective at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, on May 14, 2012.
Lauding him as “one of the most important figures in contemporary art in both the 20th and 21st centuries,” his publicist Erica Bolton said he died “peacefully at home” in London on Thursday, a month before his 89th birthday.“His seven-decade career and prolific oeuvre was characterized by his multi-media approach in image making” as well as “a sustained commitment to celebrating and portraying the world around him,” she said.
The UK made him a Companion of Honour in 1997 and earlier this year, he became one of the few non-French citizens to be awarded the highest level of France’s main civilian honor, the legion d’honneur.Expressing his and Queen Camilla’s sadness, King Charles III called Hockney “a giant of the world of art... whose irrepressible charm, talent and constant innovation will be most sorely missed.”“David was one of life’s true originals; one who wore his genius as lightly as those beloved yellow Crocs of his that helped brighten Palace occasions,” Charles wrote in a tribute on X.Hockney’s “dazzling creativity lives on in galleries and museums around the world,” he added.The Pompidou Centre in Paris — which held landmark Hockney exhibitions in 1999 and 2017 — said he was “creative to the end of his life by constantly renewing his ideas.”Born the fourth of five children in 1937 in Bradford, northern England, Hockney defied the conventions of post-World War II UK, realizing when he was young that he was gay and wanted to be an artist.A conscientious objector who did military service as a hospital orderly, he trained at the Bradford School of Art and then at London’s Royal College.“His early work demonstrated a bold stylistic range. And even then he was recognized as a master draughtman and a rising star in British art,” the college said in an Instagram tribute.He remained “a defining voice in art across his lifetime,” it added, praising his “boundless curiosity” and “mastery of color.”Hockney captured everything from carefree 1960s California — where he moved to in 1964 — to the bucolic landscapes of his native Yorkshire, and said he was “happiest when I’m painting.”In 2018, his swimming pool picture, Portrait of an Artist (Pool With Two Figures) sold for US$90.3 million in New York, setting a new auction record for a living artist. His portraits were particularly loved.“I try to get a likeness,” he said. “But in the end, I don’t care what the other person thinks of it. It’s what I think of it that counts.”A spokeswoman for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called Hockney “one of Britain’s most celebrated artists.”“His vivid, instantly recognizable work influenced generations of artists,” she added.Known for experimentation — with print making, photography and stage design alongside painting and drawing — Hockney embraced modern technology.He utilized iPads and worked with developers to create custom-made apps, according to a National Portrait Gallery profile.He also kept showcasing. London’s Serpentine Gallery is holding his first exhibition there, featuring new paintings.Tate Britain director Alex Farquharson said the art center would work with the artist’s team to realize two projects planned for next year, adding that its 2017 Hockney exhibition was the most visited in the institution’s history.“David’s passing brings to a close an extraordinary body of work characterized by reinvention,” Farquharson said.
