In imitation of Hockney : the value of teacher versatility

Abstract

On a recent trip to London I had the opportunity of visiting a retrospective exhibition celebrating the work of the contemporary artist David Hockney. The exhibition featured 60 years of work by someone who has been described as “one of the most popular and widely recognised artists of our time” (TATE Britain, 2017). Hockney was born in Yorkshire in 1937, and he is mostly renowned for his contribution to the pop art movement of the 1960s. A Bigger Splash (1967), depicting the splash made by someone diving into a swimming pool in California, is perhaps one of his most famous paintings. Despite the iconic nature achieved by many of the paintings he produced in the 1960s and 1970s, Hockney has remained a vibrant artist who has kept reinventing himself over the years.