RA Hockney Exhibition: The Arrival of Spring, Normandy, 2020

I’m glad I didnt read the reviews prior to going to see this exhibition of sketches by David Hockney. If you accept the work for what it is – a series of sketches – rather than as finished outcomes in themselves, then it is easier to come away from this exhibition with a feeling of something approaching satisfaction.

Unlike the Tracey Emin/Edvard Munch exhibition, photography was forbidden on this particular occasion. Where the former was light on content but heavy on subject matter, this was quite the opposite. The subject of the emergence of spring in a French garden in 2020 was, for me, an exciting prospect, given Hockney’s reputation for colour use. However, the colour choices made, I felt, were limited by the method/medium used, in this case an iPad. I’d usually see the digital approach as one favoured by graphic artists. But it’s not out of the question to use it as a primary mark-making tool. But, you’d better know how to get the best effects in order to be successful in your outcomes. I’m not sure that David Hockney has in this case. The fact that they are sketches on an ipad that have then been blown up far beyond their original size and placed in such an environment – one associated as representing the upper echelons of the art world, does not improve the effect of these images on the viewer. Rather than working as an enhancement of the reputations of either the Royal Academy or of David Hockney, this exhibition sadly represents a demotion of both. I searched desperately for signs that one of my favourite colour artists had not lost his touch. I was searching in vain.

However, on the train home, we googled reviews of the show. Perhaps unsurprisingly they were pretty scathing. One did mention that they had seen recent, more traditional, evidence of the artist’s drawing skills using pen and ink. It was with a heart warming feeling, and no small sense of relief, to learn that his talent is still very much alive and kicking.

References:

David Hockney: The Arrival of Spring, Normandy, 2020 | Exhibition | Royal Academy of Arts (23rd May – 26th September). Available at: https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/david-hockney (Accessed: 30 June 2021).