I love these David Hockney prints and have seen them many times - most recently just a few weeks ago at a Tapies museum in Barcelona - but here in this great new space of the Contemporary Art Society I really got the chance to look at them slowly and let all their intricacies and qualities float into my mind.
Image: Installation shot of the exhibition, ‘David Hockney: A Rake’s Progress’ at Contemporary Art Society, containing A Rake’s Progress; © David Hockney
Photo credit: Joe Plommer, 2013
The Contemporary Art Society was set up many years ago and it raises funds to purchase works of contemporary art which it then gifts or donates to public galleries or museums in the UK - so more people can see these works.
They’ve just moved from Holborn and now for the first time have this great, meditative and quiet exhibition space in Central Street, not far from Old Street tube station, which allows them to show the works they are gifting to museums across the UK - these David Hockney prints were recently gifted to Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester.
The thing that struck me about the prints in this contemplative space was their unfinished scruffy charm. There’s lots of room in them for your imagination to fill in the spaces and there’s lots of weird combinations of things to kick your imagination off.
Image: Installation shot of the exhibition, ‘David Hockney: A Rake’s Progress’ at Contemporary Art Society, containing A Rake’s Progress; © David Hockney
Photo credit: Joe Plommer, 2013
For instance in plate 5, The Start of the Spending Spree, there’s a very carefully drawn door, a kind of block print sunset, a palm tree and a man’s head with a bottle of hair dye resting on top. The weird combo sets up a freaky feeling that gets your imagination going full throttle.
It’s curious the way this sense of play is mixed with a sense of skill and despite the scruffiness there’s a real sense of gravitas to the plates as if even though there’s chaos it’s all been worked out very carefully.
Looking at the picture’s here in this peaceful space it was quite alarming to suddenly be up close to the final Bedlam plate where all the people are caught in a madness of repetition crazily listening to Walkmans.
Image: David Hockney, ‘Bedlam’, A Rake’s Progress (portfolio of 16 prints), 1961-63, etching, aquatint, edition of 50, 17 3/4 x 11 1/2in, © David Hockney
Review by Robert Dunt - Founder of ArtTop10.com and practising artist - www.robertdunt.com
The David Hockney will be at The Contemporary Art Society, 59 Central Street, London, EC1V 3AF until 16 August - www.contemporaryartsociety.co.uk
