David Hockney Quotes on Art

David Hockney is a famous British painter, printmaker and draftsman. He is best known for his sunlit California works of figures in and around the swimming pool. Famous David Hockney paintings include “A Bigger Grand Canyon”, “Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)”, “Peter Getting Out of Nick’s Pool”, “We Two Boys Together Clinging”, “A Bigger Splash”, “Bigger Trees Near Warter”, and “Beverly Hills Housewife”.

Mini biography: Born David Hockney on the 9th of July, 1937 in Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom of Great Britain. His mother was Laura and his father Kenneth Hockney. Hockney is an openly gay artist and has referenced LGBT life in multiple works.

List of Famous David Hockney Art Quotes

The pictures on the walls aren’t like movies. They don’t move, they don’t talk, and they’ll last longer. David Hockney

There comes a point where you see it all as completely empty being a popular artist to the extent that people who are not necessarily interested in art know about things or take some little interest. I think that now for me it’s a burden. It’s a bit hard to deal with and it wastes time as well. David Hockney

We are forced to make depictions. We have made them for ten thousand years now, and we are certainly not going to stop. There’s a deep, deep desire within us that makes us want to do it. David Hockney

The destruction of drawing in the art schools was almost criminal. One of its effects was to down-grade the activity of painting. This, combined with the new academic requirements to enter art schools. David Hockney

Any artist will tell you he’s really only interested in the stuff he’s doing now. He will, always. It’s true, and it should be like that. David Hockney

All art is contemporary, if it’s alive, and if it’s not alive, what’s the point of it? David Hockney

I’m an optimist by nature, and I’m not yet completely disillusioned about things. Time sorts out a lot. The modern movement can’t last forever. History tells us that the Renaissance came to an end. It didn’t go on and on. David Hockney

I may seem to be passionately concerned with the ‘hows’ of representation, how you actually represent rather than ‘what’ or ‘why’. But to me this is inevitable. The ‘how’ has a great effect on what we see. To say that ‘what we see’ is more important than ‘how we see it’ is to think that ‘how’ has been settled and fixed. When you realize this is not the case, you realize that ‘how’ often affects ‘what’ we see. David Hockney

If any artist tells you he’s not having fun in his studio, there is something wrong with him. David Hockney

The London art world doesn’t interest me, particularly. It’s a rather boring set of incestuous people. That’s my attitude. David Hockney

When you’re very young, you suddenly find this marvelous freedom, it’s quite exciting, and you’re prepared to do anything. David Hockney

David Hockney Self Portrait Painting

More on British LGBT Artist David Hockney

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Related or similar popular artists and celebrities include: Henri Matisse, Frank Auerbach, Larry Gagosian, Francis Bacon (Painter) and Ken Done.