DAVID HOCKNEY at the MET Retrospective 1960s to the Present - A Delightful Gift on Exhibit

David Hockney (b UK 1937) is an artist whose talents & lifestyle are free of constraint.  The collection contains his iconic pool paintings, double portraits, photo-collages and lesser known sketches & watercolors and some of his most recent works.  The retrospective spans a career infused with a keen interest in conveying motion and the ideal of continuous movement in life.  Many of his abstract & illusionist paintings of the 1960s have never been exhibited.  His "Tea Painting" is constructed in pieces to resemble an actual tea box complete with directions but completely off kilter.  "The Hypnotist" has a man dressed in black directing a lighting bolt into the eyes of an abstract female form dressed in white.  There is a ghostlike image emanating from the man. The scene is poised on stage surrounded by a bright green curtain putting the viewer in the audience.  Many of Hockney's works draw the viewer in. "The Hypnotist" is bewitching & one of several in which he uses a curtain to frame the painting.  "Play within Play" shows a play on stage & a man pressed against a piece of acrylic with his nose & fingers distorted.  There is a lot of clever whimsy & sense of fun in his works. I was drawn to an abstract painting entitled "Shame" (1960).  After reading its title, I deciphered a phallic image & ejaculation.  The 2nd gallery contains landscape paintings of CO & AZ vibrantly painted which contain Native American motifs.  The vivid Aztec palette conveys strength & solitude.  Other paintings from the 1960s show domestic homosexual relationships.  Notice the several portraits of his parents.  Only his mother looks directly at the artist while the father's focus is elsewhere.  I liked the self-portrait sketch (1983) & his sketch of Warhol.  Hockney's fascination with movement is pronounced with images in and around water; the distortions of refraction creates a visceral rippling effect. This is also felt in his photo-collages.  The combined photos establish a kinetic energy.  The CA painting's palettes are cool shades of green, blue, grays lending a calming aesthetic.  Hockney travels through the US and abroad shift momentum towards vivid landscapes.  Hockney paints from his travels & his locales.  The Grand Canyon paintings are glowing & majestic.  The interior paintings from the 1980s show his influence of Picasso & cubism.  My favorite painting was "Mt Fuji and Flowers".  The painting has a 3D affect.  The Japanese vase & white flowers are placed on a window ledge looking out towards Mt Fuji. The more recent works show Hockey as an artist interested in incorporating new technologies.  The iPod works enable Hockney to create actual movements and changes.  Hockney is an artist always experimenting & representing his fascination with his ever changing surroundings.  "If you see the world as beautiful, thrilling and mysterious as I think I do, then you feel quite alive." (DH)