L.A. Louver celebrates artist David Hockney. “Something New in Painting (and Photography) [and even Printing]… Continued” is the artist’s twenty-first solo exhibition at L.A. Louver, since his first show with the gallery in 1978.
LA Louver; courtesy of LAArtParty.com
Featuring mural-sized photographic drawings, large-scale multi-canvas paintings, and a series of portrait drawings on canvas, the exhibition will extend throughout L.A. Louver’s first and second floor galleries. Challenging the strictures of single-point depiction, and the limitations of two-dimensional representation, “Something New in Painting (and Photography) [and even Printing]… Continued” further advances Hockney’s ongoing investigation into reversing perspective. Utilizing innovative methods of digital production, this body of work exemplifies Hockney’s insatiable curiosity for new technologies, as well as his enduring commitment to traditional modes of painting and drawing, evidenced throughout every stage of his over 60-year career.
Two immersive, mural-sized works are central to the exhibition. Described by Hockney as “photographic drawings,” the images are inventively derived from the artist’s studio in Los Angeles. Commanding almost the entirety of two opposing walls in L.A. Louver’s main gallery, the massively scaled renderings are comprised of hundreds of digital photographs taken from various perspectives on different occasions. Because the artist has captured numerous viewpoints over a period of time, the compositions are not confined to one view of a single moment. Rather, they allow for a complex consideration of both time and space. Yet Hockney approaches the work much like he would painting or drawing, where elements can be added and subtracted, redone and reconsidered, to achieve a multiplex depiction of space.
Pictures at an Exhibition, 2018, photographic drawing printed on 8 sheets of paper, mounted on 8 sheets of dibond 107 1/2 x 344 in. / 273.1 x 873,8 cm, Edition of 12. © David Hockney. Assisted by Jonathan Wilkinson.
Each of the two large photographic drawings are variants of the same setting: rows of chairs are angled towards the back wall, with seated and standing figures (some appearing more than once) occupying the mise en scéne. All are positioned in such a way that centralizes the viewer as a participant. Hockney himself makes an appearance: resting at the edge of the tableau, cigarette in hand. In one version, a mirror along the facing wall reflects back, exposing a rounder view of the composed scene. Find out more about this exhibition on the website.
Concurrently on view at L.A. Louver, Los Angeles-based artist Alison Saar has created a new bronze sculpture for L.A. Louver’s open-air Skyroom. The work depicts a female figure seated on a bale of cotton. Branches of cotton extend upwards from her hair, reaching for the sky. The title “Grow’d” makes reference to Saar’s earlier body of work from 2017-18 that centered around the character of Topsy from Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
On view: February 7 – March 23, 2019
Where: L.A. Louver, 45 North Venice Boulevard, Venice, 90291
Website: http://lalouver.com
