David Hockney: The Arrival of Spring, Normandy, 2020

Seamlessly combining conventional techniques and new technologies, David Hockney is undoubtedly one of the most celebrated painters alive of the 20th century. He was born in 1937 in Bradford, England. Along with Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Keith Haring, the painter is one of the key figures of the pop art movement of the 1960s. Hockney’s distinctive style is inspired by sources as diverse as Baroque, Cubism and Computer Graphics. What makes Hockney one of the most important painters of our time is that he avoids staying stuck in the past. He might have shaped the art world in the 1960s but he has remained open to developments and has incorporated them in his artistic production. Him drawing on an iPad at 84 years of age should say enough, right?

According to Hockney, The Arrival of Spring, Normandy, 2020 was created by painting all the phases of spring during the Covid-19 lockdown period at his home in Normandy. Critics have raved about the series, which the artist started drawing in early 2020, claiming that it is one of his best. The exhibition consists of 116 iPad drawings based on the theme of spring. The digital drawings full of hope, colour and positive energy are exhibited in printed format. Combining vivid colours and simplistic drawing, the work beams the viewer to the time Hockney made the drawings. Hockney fans can expect a world of fruit trees, flower beds, rivers, fields, and lush leaves at the Sakıp Sabancı Museum between 11 May and 29 July 2022.