Like many people, I was saddened to hear of the death of David Hockney.
As someone who spends a lot of time thinking about colour, I don’t think there has been anyone quite like him.
I’ve been trying to put my finger on what it was that made his work so special. The truth is, I’m not sure I can.
A few years ago, I was lucky enough to visit the Tate retrospective and see one of my favourite paintings, Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy. I found a place on the bench in front of it and sat there for a couple of minutes, captivated.
I’m not enough of an art critic to explain exactly why I find that painting so gripping. I couldn’t give you a detailed analysis of its composition or tell you all the reasons it works so brilliantly. I just know that I love it dearly.
In many ways, that’s how I feel about all of Hockney’s work.
His ability to capture and share colour was like no other. He seemed to understand not only what colours looked like, but what they felt like. The bright blue of a swimming pool. The colours of California. The trees of his beloved Yorkshire countryside. The way light changes everything.
Many of my artistic heroes have found their way into The Colour Palette Company designs over the years, and David Hockney is one of them. He sits proudly on our Los Angeles Colour Palette, where “Hockney Blue” takes its place alongside the colours of the city.
That particular colour swatch is my small tribute to the blue of his swimming pool paintings and those glorious California skies. I’m chuffed to have celebrated him in my own way.
He leaves behind an extraordinary body of work and a different way of seeing the world.
He is a huge loss to the art world.
Rest easy, David.
Stacey