David Hockney: Bigger & Closer (not smaller & further away)

  

David Hockney - BIGGER And CLOSER - a massive, technically ground-breaking, immersive art exhibition at the newly opened LIGHTROOM Artspace  located in London's recently revitalized King's Cross Arts-District

 

        

My friend, the artist David Hockney invited me to London to see and photograph the final rehearsals of his newest, technically complex and simply breathtaking, exhibition, "Bigger And Closer."   Certainly a most fortunate and profound honored for me. Here are a few of my pictures of this incredible, and hands down, completely unique from all others, immersive art presentation from David Hockney.  

 

 "Bigger And Closer" includes motion, films, photographs, animation and the most exceptional asset, his own personal narration. Hockney's ongoing narration creates an atmosphere that makes this huge exhibition feel far more like an intimate studio visit with an old friend.  As David guides us through his lifetime of work, he explains the ideas which continue to inspire his art for over 60 years.  Now 85, David is up early each morning, working away, with paintings, drawings, photography and now the newer art creating digital technologies.

All the floors and walls, every possible surface is full of art, an equally exciting event for children as well

In his Los Angeles studio, 1970s 

Growing up in the rural country side of Yorkshire, David is deeply moved by nature and landscape; currently much of his time is spent living and making art at his farm in Normandie, France.

 

Hockney Paints the Stage - Early opera inspired works from the 1960s & 70s

DH adding just a few final touches as the hours tick down before the big reveal. "What is he up to now?" Something not to be missed. 

Feb. 22 Through Oct. 1

LIGHTROOM

12 Lewis Cubitt Square
London, N1C 4DY

 

 

Summer of 2010- Aspen and California's HWY 1

"The Hills Ranch" Aspen, Colorado - © 2010 Jim McHugh

    It's been an exciting time this summer photographing and printing a variety of new pictures.  While in Colorado for an August exhibit in Aspen I was fortunate to spent several days photographing mountain landscapes with my Speed Graphic and Polaroid. My first challenge was how to approach this subject matter with my camera in a fresh way? 

"Maroon Lake" Aspen, Colorado   © 2010 Jim McHugh

   I will forever be moved and influenced by 19th. century pictoralist photography. I can almost feel the photographer at work. Because of the primitive materials and technologies available at the time, photographic results were completely unpredictable.  Polaroid is very similar, every image has a slightly different different quality.  The pictures of photographer Edweard Muybridge and landscape painter Albert Bierstadt  always fascinate me. There is so much emotion in the imagery. Muybridge is often defined by his “motion” studies, but to me his landscapes are the most stunningly. They are dark and powerfully compelling! Bierstadt’s canvases of Yosemite Valley are filled with vision! So much color and imagination. More than most contemporary photography can produce.

 With Muybridge  and other Pictoralist's work there is such a sense of struggle and triumph in the imagery. Not only must the photographer have the  "Eye" to see; but the prints themselves are so precious, difficult to make! They look three dimensional, like charcoal drawings.

"Lighthouse at Pigeon Point #1" © Jim McHugh

By merging older analog systems and digital technologies I am trying  to create in my prints a slight confusion, an uncertainty. I hope the viewer’s eye will  linger longer on the surface. More like a radio drama than a film; the listener is allowed to supply the unseen. I will be heading back to Colorado this week.

"Skeleton at Scotts Creek - Highway 1" © 2010 Jim McHugh

  

"Pigeon Point" © 2010 Jim McHugh

             

354 N. Bedford Drive- Beverly Hills, CA. 90210 -310 278 4400

Rue Du Bac

Paris photographer Samuel Lugassy, Designer Kevin Corn and Debbie Hauvette Dir. of the Gallery.

The Installation is in, We took the final framed works from the Dupon Lab today. Samuel Lugasssy and Kevin Corn have been so much help. The pictures are so beautiful in this wonderful French library enviorment. They seem to belong, like a living room. There were quite a few visitors to the Gallery today. The images in the window created real interest. Kevin's
handiwork. And somehow Samuel got eveything up and perfect! Debbie Hauvette from Transacmer has made all of this possible.