The painting “A Bigger Splash“ by David Hockney was Painted in 1967. The piece, added as a picture below, shows a sunny view from the side of a swimming pool with a modern building and some greenery in the background. The main activity in the painting is the water splash in the middle created by someone or something jumping in the pool. The object entering the water is not shown.
Figure 0: A bigger splash (Hockney, 1967)
The main topic this painting shows is how artists real life can influence his paintings. This includes colours used, brush strokes, movement in the painting and emotions the painting communicates. This David Hockney piece includes bright and vibrant colours which create a very welcoming and warm atmosphere. This could symbolize the emotional state of the artist in the moment. The splash is the only object that is not minimalistic and shows organic lines, this could signify the freedom the artist felt leaving London and moving to California, as that is where the painting is created. “Hockney first visited California in 1963 and was immediately won over by its sunshine and laid-back lifestyle (quite different from London where he had been living). He described it as his ‘promised land’ and spent much of the next forty years living there“( Kinley, Manchester,1990, 2003) I made this conclusion after analysing David Hockney’s paintings from different parts of his life. The biggest opposition can be seen between his earliest work done in London in 1950’s and his work in California in 1960’s. There is a very sudden change in his painting style.
Figure 1. David Hockney’s paintings in 1950s
Figure 2. David Hockney’s paintings in 1960s
After his move to California his paintings became vibrant, light and more pleasing to the eye. The colours and shadows became more linear and clean, reminding of a poster. His work back in London shows more of a grim view of the world and his surroundings. People have more wrinkles and sadness while this changes when he sees a different side of life in a foreign country. This transition can be clearly seen from the differences in images Figure1 and Figure2.
David Hockney loved L.A. and its lifestyle. He loved the vivid colours the sunshine gave the place. He saw it as a bohemian land. As an openly gay man he also loved how open and free he can be there. His start for the painting came from a magazine manual on how to maintain swimming pools. In an interview the artist mentions how he was fascinated by painting something that lasts only a few seconds, but took him two weeks to paint. This gives a clear opposition between the slowly buildable art and the fast reality.
The painting is interesting because everything in the background is very still, painted only using colour patches, while the splash is very detailed, includes different brush sizes, small different organic lines. It is even more striking than a picture. Which captures the second lasting image. The artist works from his own taken pictures and mentioned: “He sees photography as a useful aid to remembering information, but does not think that photographs in themselves are enough. It is the artist’s personal vision that adds extra depth and resonance to the picture and makes it come to life.” (Kinley, Manchester,1990, 2003) This painting, as others, is a mash between photographs and observed surrounding details.
His paintings of multi-storied buildings, nude men next to swimming pools, ranch-styled houses changed the idea of Los Angeles not only for United Kingdom citizens, but Americans as well.
In conclusion my chosen art piece by David Hockney called “A Bigger Splash“ is a very personal representation of the artist himself. The change in his personal life is clearly visible in his produced art in that time. While this fact can be easily connected to his art through the years there are details with meanings in this painting that only the artist knows, but observations and research can give us a hand in understanding the painting.
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