Past Exhibitions
David Hockney's fresh flowers: Drawings on the iPhone and iPad
CLOSED
October 8, 2011 to January 1, 2012
Roloff Beny Gallery, Level 4
Premiering in North America at the Institute for Contemporary Culture (ICC), at the Royal Ontario Museum, this cutting-edge exhibition reveals David Hockney's extraordinary use of a new medium, and its impact on shaping visual culture today. Hockney is one of the world's most acclaimed contemporary artists, and Fresh Flowers is his first major show in Canada in over two decades.
David Hockney began working with the iPhone in 2008. He's since created hundreds of finger-drawn images using the Brushes app, ranging in subject from flowers and self-portraits to landscapes and still life. These colourful digital drawings were first created to email to his friends.
In 2009 the Fondation Pierre Bergé/Yves Saint Laurent mounted an exhibition of Hockney's iPhone drawings in Paris. Its title, Fleurs fraîches, also served as a metaphor for the unique way in which he is able to insert new drawings into exhibitions via email, while the exhibitions are being viewed in galleries around the world. The exhibition is always in a state of evolution, with periodic arrivals of new visual delights.
The ICC exhibition features approximately 100 iPhone drawings displayed on 20 iPods, as well as an additional 100 iPad drawings on 25 iPads. Twenty drawings in the exhibition will feature playback animations of the works being drawn from start to finish, allowing viewers insight into the artist's creative process. Fresh Flowers will also include two films of Hockney working on an iPad, eight large-scale animated projections of recent iPad drawings, and a nine-minute triptych slide show with an additional 169 images.
Fresh Flowers marks the ROM's first WiFi accessible exhibition: visitors can share their experiences online, in real time. The exhibition includes a 56-page catalogue in French and English featuring an essay by Hockney on his works on the iPhone and iPad, created for the exhibition in Paris, and available at the ROM Museum Store.
The Artist
David Hockney has worked as a painter, stage designer, printmaker and photographer. Exuberant and versatile, he is often considered one of the most popular British artists of the 20th century. Born in Bradford, England in 1937, Hockney studied at Bradford College of Art and the Royal College of Art in London. Recognition came quickly, and although he rejected the label of pop artist, in the early 1960s he emerged in the public eye as one of the leaders of this movement in the United Kingdom.
In 1963 Hockney emigrated to the United States, relishing Los Angeles where the hedonistic lifestyle and sun-baked atmosphere were reflected in his swimming pool paintings. In the 1970s he also designed stage sets for operas at venues such as Glyndebourne in the U.K. and the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He experimented frequently with photography in the '80s, collaging multiple photographs into single compositions resembling Cubist works.
His 2001 book Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the Techniques of the Old Masters suggested that as early as 1420 artists were using optical devices to assist them in their work. His interest in technology has also led him to create art by experimenting with photocopiers, fax machines and computers. David Hockney's work can be found in important public collections around the world.
For more information visit David Hockney's official website.
