David Hockney and Photo Joiners

David Hockney is a renowned Artist and Photographer.

He was born in Bradford, England, on 9 July 1937. His parents were Laura Beth and Kenneth Hockney, and the fourth of five children.

He was educated at Wellington Primary School, Bradford Grammar School, Bradford College of Art and the Royal College of Art in London, whilst at the Royal College of Art; Hockney featured in an exhibition entitled “Young Contemporaries” which also included Peter Blake.

When the Royal College of Art refused to let him graduate 1962 because he believed he should be assessed on his art work, not an essay, Hockney drew the sketch The Diploma in protest.

The Diploma

 

By this time, Hockney had a growing reputation and recognising that he had talent; the Royal College of Art amended their regulations and awarded him the Diploma.

 

Hockney started to produce photo collages in the early 1980's. He called these collages "Joiners". 

His initial venture into this medium started with a polaroid camera and he then moved onto 35mm film, which he had produced commercially.

 

David chose a subject and took individual photographs at slightly different angles and times, he then assembled these photographs on a board.

 

These images had some resemblance to cubism, and artists such as Pablo Picasso.

 

Pictured here is David Hockney's Mother, one of his first, you can see the resemblance in style to Picasso's image.

 

David Hockney's Mother

 

Picassos "Girl with a Mandolin"

 

 

Another famous image of Hockney's is Pearlblossom Highway (below), originally designed to tell a story for Vanity Fair, it is made up of about 800 images.

 

 

 

The sky is made up of about 200 on its own. David compiled these images over about 10 days, taking the photographs from different angels, to try and draw the viewer into the image.

 

He stood on a set of steps to photograph the signs from straight on and in the original image you can see the paint cracking.

 

David believes that the image became much too big as he ran away with the idea. Vanity Fair never used the image, but he never minded as he believes he got something out of it.

 

I actually quite like the image as a piece of art. I wouldn't call it a photograph; I would call it a painting or drawing.

 

For me, a photograph is a single image of a particular view or item. Yes, a photograph can be manipulated, colours changed, sharpened or whatever, but at its most basic, it's a single image, a reproduction of the original.

 

When you start to create a picture, for me, it becomes an image.

 

David has created an image by taking many photographs of individual items from the original location and recreated the scene. This scene then becomes a representation of the original and not a reproduction.

 

I'm sure many would argue the point, but it is only my opinion.

 

Whatever you wish to call Pearlblossom Highway, whether it be a photograph, painting or drawing, maybe all three, it certainly is an intriguing piece of art.

 

I am looking forward to recreating a scene in this way. It's something I haven't tried before and maybe it will be something I like. I did state in a previous comment that I thought it wouldn't be my preferred choice for the photo book project, but let's just wait and see..........