David Hockney, 2017 at Flash Expo by Connaissance des Art
The National Portrait Gallery in London exhibited the works of David Hockney back in February 2020. The show was on view for just twenty days when the pandemic hit and the Portrait Gallery was forced to close its doors.
Hockney moved from California to Normandy in 2019. He settled into a small, French country cottage, and has spent the last several years painting the changing seasons and the idyllic landscape. Those works have been shown at major venues around the world.
As the pandemic restrictions eased, Hockney began to welcome visitors to his new home. He painted portraits of the people he met in Normandy, including his gardener, the mayor and even his chiropodist. He was commissioned to paint a portrait, for the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, of Grammy Award–winning music executive and philanthropist Clive Davis.
It was Davis who suggested that Hockney invite Harry Styles to Normandy to sit for a portrait. Hockney had never heard of the iconic English singer and actor. “I wasn’t really aware of his celebrity then,” Hockney said in a Vogue interview. “He was just another person who came to the studio.” But Styles had been a fan of Hockney’s for years.
The portrait of Styles, in jeans, a yellow-striped sweater and a string of pearls around his neck, will be on exhibit along with nearly 160 others, at the re-opening of Hockney’s show at the National Portrait Gallery in London.
David Hockney: Drawing From Life will be at the National Portrait Gallery in London from November 2 to January 21, 2024.
Felipe Pantone (b. 1986) was one of the featured artists at this years Saatchi Gallery’s Beyond the Streets London exhibit. He also had a solo show at the Control Gallery in Los Angeles and currently has an exhibit titled Prospective at the Kunsthal in Rotterdam that will run through Oct. 1, 2023.
Pantone, who will only conduct interviews with his face covered, has gone from graffiti artist to fine artist with global recognition. He credits Venezuelan artist, Carlos Cruz-Diez, as his inspiration for his interest in kinetic art.
The Cruz-Diaz family and Foundation are remembering the great artist, who died in Paris in 2019, by celebrating this year; the centenary of his birth.
In partnership with the Centre Pompidou and the Musée national d'art moderne, an exhibit of Cruz-Diez’ works will be on a world tour.
RGB, the Colors of the Century was conceived and curated by Carlos Cruz-Diez in 2014. The entire exhibit can be transmitted electronically.
References:
Karen Rosenberg. Carlos Cruz-Diez, Whose Art Made Color Move, Is Dead at 95. The New York Times. August 2, 2019.
Jessica Stewart. David Hockney’s Portrait of Harry Styles Will Exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery. My Modern Met. August 7, 2023.
Sam Gaskin. When Harry Met Hockney. Ocula. August 3, 2023.
Liam Hess. When Harry Styles Met David Hockney: An Exclusive First Look at a Special New Portrait. Vogue. August 2, 2023.
Kase Wickman. Harry Styles Is a Work of Art—Just Ask David Hockney. Vanity Fair. August 3, 2023.
Reuters Staff. Cruz-Diez, Venezuelan kinetic artist, dies in Paris at 95. Reuters. July 28, 2019.
