ipaintings?

The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire in 2011 (twenty eleven) - 1 January (2011)

September 22, 2014

David Hockney

The Pace Gallery in Chelsea

Sept 5-Nov 4

Thank you, Mr. Hockney and the crew at the Pace, for reminding us that, indeed, winter is coming, with your show, “The Arrival of Spring”.  The drawings are wonderful and textured with the black and white, light, and dark patterns found in full summer and spring scenes.  The first thing that you see upon entering the gallery is a giant video installation on multiple screens of a lovely drive down a back country road in the dead of winter.  That is exactly what I like to see while strolling through galleries in Chelsea in September after a short, cool summer on the East Coast.  Don’t get me wrong.  I love winter.  It just seems to be coming so quickly this year.  Good thing the rest of the show was full of bright springtime color.  The ipad paintings were large and bright, featuring the signature style of saturated color and line that Hockney is famous for.  These images resonate with his actual paintings quite well.  As for the medium, it is what it is and it is unapologetic.  He made images on his ipad with the intention of printing them to a large scale and that is exactly what is on the wall at the Pace.  It isn’t traditional painting not is it traditional printing.  These are flattened, colorful images evoking emotion through the color relationships and the honest recording of the passage of time in a place.  It is what it is and it is beautiful.  The colors are saturated, layered, and limited.  They tend to lie next to each other and compete for real estate in the foreground.  Even, so, there is surprisingly more depth to the paintings than I had originally thought for this reason, but the line quality is excellent  and varied, and linear perspective keeps the images in visual order.  

What do you think?  Ipad art part of the conversation now but is it important? Will the art world see more of this medium and embrace it or is it just relevant because one of our beloved living masters is using it?

For more information: http://www.pacegallery.com/newyork/exhibitions/12687/the-arrival-of-spring