David Hockney is known the world over for his use of vivid palettes and leveraging technology in his art making. The whimsy with which the English artist paints a swimming pool (both literal and figurative) can be felt, while his brilliant landscapes promise peace and easiness as they stretch out in front of you.
If you’ve not had the pleasure of experiencing Hockney’s work for yourself, the Grand Rapids Art Museum invites you to visit “David Hockney: Perspective Should Be Reversed, Prints from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation.” From now through Nov. 2, guests can explore the largest collection of prints from Hockney’s expansive body of work.
“GRAM is incredibly fortunate to be presenting the first exhibition of Hockney’s work in Grand Rapids, and it happens to be the most extensive presentation of his work in printmaking,” said Jennifer Wcisel, the Dean and Helga Toriello Curator of Collections and Exhibitions. “The world is celebrating Hockney this year as his largest retrospective exhibition ever just opened in Paris, France, and Grand Rapids gets to be a part of this significant moment in his career.”
Fans of his work will not be disappointed – true to his legacy as a trailblazer, the exhibition features the many ways Hockney explored and experimented with printmaking.
“David Hockney is an incredibly innovative artist who has quite literally invented new ways of making pictures,” Wcisel said. “He was one of the first artists to experiment with Xerox color copiers in the 1980s, digital printing in the 1990s, and iPads in the 2000s. This show features images created using dyed paper pulp and mylar, in addition to traditional printmaking methods like etching and lithography. I think visitors will be surprised by the sheer number of techniques and tools Hockney utilized to create the works in this exhibition.”
Wcisel and the GRAM team arranged the exhibition thematically, letting the vibrant, expressive pieces take visitors on the journey of a man who’s set out to bring something wonderful to the world.
“More than anything, David Hockney’s work is a reminder that life is beautiful if we take the time to notice it,” she said. “He has playfully called himself a ‘looker’ because he is such a careful and keen observer of the world, from mundane things like the way his coat drapes across a chair to majestic landscapes, like Yosemite. I think his work invites us all to become ‘lookers’ too. ‘David Hockney: Perspective Should Be Reversed’ is such a joyful exhibition; I hope visitors come away feeling refreshed, happy, and with a renewed sense of wonder and curiosity about the world.”
