David Hockney’s first major exhibition of new landscape works recently opened at the Royal Academy. Featuring vivid paintings inspired by the East Yorkshire landscape, these large-scale works have been created especially for the galleries at the Royal Academy of Arts. David Hockney RA: A Bigger Picture spans a 50 year period to demonstrate Hockney’s long exploration and fascination with the depiction of landscape. The exhibition includes a display of his iPad drawings and a series of new films (some even feature Royal Ballet principals) produced using 18 cameras which are displayed on multiple screens and provide a spellbinding visual journey through the eyes of David Hockney. Click here for further information.
Another fascinating aspect of David Hockney’s output are his designs for the operatic stage. The Opus Arte catalogue features the acclaimed version of Stravinsky’s opera The Rake’s Progress from Glyndebourne in which Hockney’s designs for director John Cox reinterpret the Hogarth etchings that inspired the opera’s libretto, written by W.H. Auden and Chester Kallman. A visually stunning feast! The DVD also includes a documentary with David Hockney interviews, an invaluable insight into the artist’s creative genius.
Opera has attracted a long list of visual artists and recent additions to the catalogue also include the South African William Kentridge’s take on Mozart’s The Magic Flute from La Scala, Milan. His set designs cleverly use lighting design, film, props and scenery to create an all-engulfing vision of Mozart’s masterpiece. Maverick stage director Robert Wilson’s approach to opera has always had its foundation in the artist’s fine arts background and takes its basis from drawings. This can be wonderfully explored in his take on Verdi’s Aida from La Monnaie Brussels as well as his interpretation of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo which in itself was inspired by a Titan painting.