David Hockney

Well hello!   My week has been chaotic as usual. Helen and I attended an art exhibition in Manly.  The show was in aid of our drought stricken farmers. They are doing  it tough.  It's heartbreaking hearing some of their stories.  The art group that organised the event ran it as a silent aüction..  All the artworks were donated by the artists.

Later that week we had the second meeting of the artbookclub.  Helen had chosen David Hockney's 'Secret Knowledge' as our second book to read. I was fascinated.  In all of my thirty plus years as an artist, l had never heard of the controversy surrounding the possible use of lenses by some of our best artists.   In particular,  some of the great masters.

David Hockney put forward a strong case that lenses were used in the creation of  a number of these artworks. He noticed areas of some paintings had an 'out of focus' look and this is inconsistent with how we see.    There were several other reasons  too.  You will have to read the beautiful book Hockney produced that explores this assertion.

Hockney did not feel that his revelations diminished his appreciation of the amazing  masterpieces that were produced.

I love the beautiful tree paintings that he is producing in his later years and I admire his explorations of digital imagery.

If you have the chance to read the book, I am sure you too will find it fascinating .

CX
 

 

                                                Van Eyck