By Simon Mckeown. Professor of Art, School of Arts & Creative Industries, Teesside University, Teesside University<br /> <br /> Born in Bradford and shaped by northern art-school discipline, David Hockney brought a working-class, almost punk refusal to British art: do the work, trust the eye, do not ask for approval. Hockney made success look effortless: all color, good humor, great glasses, cigarettes and smoky charm. But for a young gay artist from a northern mill town, nothing about that journey was effortless.

More than a painter, David Hockney was an advocate of attention whose lifelong curiosity transformed how generations of artists learned to see the world

By Simon Mckeown. Professor of Art, School of Arts & Creative Industries, Teesside University, Teesside University<br /> <br /> Born in Bradford and shaped by northern art-school…

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