David Hockney on What's Unphotographable

[percorell]

Thank's -- and what is interesting, is how "art critics" so often deal with "how" and not what. I heard critic, where the sole issue has been if the artist "cheated" and not once but many times -- as I sometimes use these myself,-- the ones who find only the method and not the image, motiv or composision interesting, is realy guessing and know nothing about how the aparatus work or it's limitations and even that 99 pct. use it wrong. -- so even the guesses are wrong, as that is not how it work

[GhostofDanDan]

first time i've heard of robert hughes liking the work of an artist

[reference2me]

I love the way Hockney has experimented and how he has let Chinese art influience him

[GISMCONFUSE]

david is actually a fucking ASSHOLE.

[gordondragonninja76]

why does the great robert hughes waste his time with this holiday painter?

It's sad that Mr Hockney only finds out in the latter part of his life that the human eye is better than a camera.

[muttilo]

@gordondragonninja76 He likes him and his work judging by this so there you go

[MsJony1234]

I like David, he's a cool guy, nice easy manner and take me or leave me air about him. His art is his art, not good but not bad,

[REDBULLHEADiphone]

"unphotographable"?

Sounds like giving up.

[anikinippon]

@REDBULLHEADiphone Well, I think the point he was making is being able to see something in a way that a photo would capture it are incompatible. Hockney has a deep understanding of perspective and how things appear in real life. He has always played with perspective and I thinks that's what makes his work so unique.

[BigDogGMoney]

All the great artists master their trade(for want of a better description) and then experiment with medium, colour, light, brush work, composition; it's about finding something new, and yourself in the process. David Hockey is no different. It's obvious he has great technical ability, it's shown in the paintings of his mother.

[cspace1234nz]

Amazing artist and great critic.

[zthetha]

If we didn't know he was great we'd think he was crap.

[rosecarriage]

@zthetha

bullshit

[zthetha]

@rosecarriage I am grateful for your erudition - whether approbatory or opprobrious. Art is merely fashion - what was once great is now old hat, e.g. Cezanne was for a long time deified by art schools as the inspiration of Cubism (another fad) even though his long time friend and contemporary, Victor Hugo, told the world that he had no talent whatsoever- which is true. 'Artistic taste' is formed by dealers who prey on the gullible, insecure wealthy who need to feel cultured, special, elitist.

[rosecarriage]

@zthetha You don't have to be pretended as a charming human,looks like courtesy，foresight and sagacity.That's really not interesting.It is your freedom to set up your belief on some kind of knowledgeable people like what Victor Hugo.I just belive in my eyes and my feeling.No matter who is your dream lover in art,you are bullshit when you deny the beauty with some ‘righteous’ reasons.You have lose your heart forever.

[zthetha]

@rosecarriage  Not quite sure what you're banging on about but thanks for your comment.

[apoksONE]

robert hughes is not an 'ignorant aussie' he is one of the most respected art critics in america and the world.. a champion of real art against much of the commercialism that has been rife in the last decade. and kavakom your comment makes me chuckle 'David, it's already been done mate!' aww you ignorant philistine x

[astronomenoff99]

Kavacom, when's your exhibition on?, I'd love to come and see your work, I may even buy some of your paintings!

[oiwatchulookinat]

It's very odd that people are attacking Hockney's skill as a draftsman. I don't know if these are people who are judging this by this narrow selection of his work. One which is not interested in draftsmanship in the same way that his portraits of say the early/mid 70's were.

The photograph is able to capture image in a way pen and brush does not. So surely it is an admirable pursuit for an artist to explore what the eye can see but the photograph can never capture.

[kavacom]

six years to draw a tree !

[kavacom]

only a matter of time before the man takes off his Ear. David, it's already been done mate !

[kavacom]

Wot Rubbish !

[kavacom]

paintings quite child like , infantile . portraits mature and copied from photograph.

(Charlatan)

[guirgan]

this ignorant aussie, shut up.

[FredericWatts]

Of all the crazy comments on this video about Hockney's skill, the clear answer is he doesn't draw very naturalistic, he draws good in a crude sense. Whether he does by choice or because he can't draw naturalistically well is somewhat irrelevant. I don't like his art in a higher sense, but for art as art its not bad. Only because, like many, he does his crudeness naturally, it doesn't look forced. In that he is talented, in that small small regard for what ranks artistic merit.

[beefkilla]

interesting way to put it..

[reinier84]

What I notice as being obvious here is that David's attack on photography is an attempt at giving his own work more importance and also that it's completely subjective how good/bad, much of an artist or anything anyone thinks he is

[eddiemambo]

I agree with you Reiner84- True creators don't

behave like that. Its strange of him. I'm surprised

[FredericWatts]

Possibly it's an attack, because he seems somewhat crooked. But there are things photography will never capture, there are things photography can only capture, but most importantly photography is relatively limiting.

[Kurturmis]

On another note I could probably out paint and draw this guy without using reference! Some people may like tacky paintings but his artistry is terrible.

[MichaelPotapof]

oh the misunderstood artist thing, im better but no one gets me...i think its been done before

[Kurturmis]

Thats not what I am saying at all idiot...

[eddiemambo]

AGAIN YOU & YOUR FAMOUS  ART SELF???|

LETS SEE YOU ART!!!

You a DREAMER KURTURMIS

SAD

[Kurturmis]

Hey mambo sice your so well informed lets see YOUR ART!!?? ...I will gladly show mine....

[cwegers1]

Of all the wanky fucking comments I've read here , yours takes the cake. It's a stupid meaningless statement . Hockney is one of THE major painters of the 20th century.

[fanofsmeddy]

The art world exists, and Hockney is on top of it.

It doesn't matter what uneducated (or educated) people comment about this video.

[proust2020]

Hockney is a very very good artist, he can draw incredibly well. His "old master theory" is very misunderstood by some of the comments here. He is NOT saying that they couldn't draw and paint, as the evidence obviously shows that they could. All he is saying is that there is a good chance they used mechanical devices. Vermeer certainly did and he's as close to a genius as you can get! You have to know how to draw well to be able to use a projector or whatever. merely tracing lines won't make it

[blessOTMA]

@proust2020 I agree. Those helps do not make the paintings &take nothing away from the artist's achievements. Hockney is quite clear about that . Any artist knows: they are a start, they are a help , but won't do the painting for one. When he says " I can paint it now with great confidence," he's saying after 50 years of painting, he can go directly to what is essential. After 50 years of painting, he knows...but it takes the years of doing so...no mirror can get you there, only painting

[TripolarProductions]

Photography uses fixed point perspective.

Good move DH in getting back with painting and the unbridled imagination. Any old monkey can point a camera and get a picture.

[Tesslovesaof]

i think David Hockney is fantastic, if only I could draw and paint and photograph as well as him!

[dylanmasterguyextra]

david hockney was on a really bad show

[mellevaelcono]

Hockney is a product of today for sure (be famous, no matter how bad you are people will buy your crap)

who never learned to paint or draw,

dunno what i dislike the most, his truly bad cubist paintings or the fact that someone who has really bad skill tried to do a book about how the old masters worked

he wasn`t even able to reproduce one using the same techniques he claims they used

I like his photo collages tho!

keep doing that & forget painting, because painting surely forgot you, mr hockney

[MichaelPotapof]

you have no idea, and i dont think he paints for the money or the fame he is a known homebody. the hockney falco thesis is valid, its not at all an attack on the old masters but you probably dont know what it is.

[versacheese]

His watercolor works remind me of van gogh a little

[gwalkron]

i think hockney is brilliant. some people don't. isn't that great?

[Kurturmis]

We watch videos like this because we care about art. The state of today's art world is terrible, thanks to "artist" such as hockney. I found out about this guy when I heard of his book, which claimed that Master artist from the Renaissance couldn't draw and that they had to use camera obscures because it was "humanly impossible to draw that well". This guy is a joke!

[MichaelPotapof]

"i present to you kurturmis, saving the art world through his uneducated comments on youtube! haha. Hockney does not attack the renaissance painters just the modern idealisation of them, so get a grip".

[Kurturmis]

Have you actually read his book? He makes some valid points, but the majority of it pretentious banter. Some of his statements are well wrong!! I suggest you visit the Art Renewal site, although I dont fully agree with their views they do have an interesting write up about Hockneys and his book.

[indiekid21]

Hockney is brilliant in all aspects. You clearly havent looked at his lifetime of work, how can his early work be 'monkey art'? Also if you dont like Hockney then why watch a video about him? waste of time isnt it?!

[kuentai]

why watch a video of the iraq war when you don't like war, why watch the news if you can't do anything about it. Hell why don't we just sit in boxes. :]

[BenCellini527]

Hockney is a mediocre artist at best and brilliant would hardly be an adjective i would use to describe him. An example of his idiocy is in his theory that the old master were to incompetent to paint realistically. He proposes that they relied heavily on optical devices, yet if you browse for no more then a coupple of minutes in YT you can easily verify that his theory is wrong. His theory is a justification of his own incompetence at fair depiction.

[veryverysilly1]

Hockney, monkey art. The video, junk.

[bwworld]

Anything is photographable, but you have to let go of preconceptions based on other forms of visual image creation. But then again, Hockney used photography as a tool to illustrate his very creative artistic ideas and not purely for its own sake, so I suppose his statements shouldn't be all that surprising.

[Art4SakeOfArt]

I agree about similarities to the style of Matisse in some images. Hockney's recent work is more fascinating to me because it is so simple and powerful. His use of as little brush strokes as possible are evident and makes for a cleaner image.

[MITCHELLJOHNPEARSON]

Hockney sees his photography as a failure, but it liberated his art. Any breakthrough an artist as, no matter how futile, is a breakthrough.

[rictit]

Very good artist, but it remains me of Matisse!