2. About David Hockney David Hockney was born in 1937 in Bradford, England. He won a scholarship into Bradford Grammar School in 1948, where he decided that he wanted to be an artist. In 1953, he started at the College of Art, where he began painting with oils. He saw art as a personal thing, and his paintings were often abstract. In 1957, Hockney graduated with a National Diploma in Design Examination. He then enrolled in the Painting School of the Royal College in London two years later. In 1961, Hockney travelled to America, where he was recognised for his artwork. He moved to California, where the new environment and scenery greatly admired him. In 1967, Hockney became interested in photography, and from the early seventies until the mid eighties, he worked on his joiner images, which he took with a Polaroid camera and arranging the photos into a collage.
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4. This photo joiner shows an empty courtyard. The montage projects a sense of calmness, as the main focuses are the trees, and because all is quiet and simple in the courtyard. The street near the centre uses converging lines, and the left tree in in the left third.
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6. Pearblossom Highway, 1986 This joiner shows an American highway. On the right hand side, you have mostly road signs, while the left hand has only scenery and rubbish. I think the joiner is about driving or a journey, and how drivers and passengers often see and focus on different things (for example, the driver is always thinking about signs, speed and direction, and passengers are focused on the scenery and can pick out different objects along the journey).
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8. This picture shows a man sitting down and looking out of a window. Outside, there’s a row of houses and some flowers. I think it expresses a desire for freedom, and possibly how Hockney himself feels trapped and longs to break free some social norms. David Graves Looking at Bayswater London, 1982
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10. This joiner is of a man playing the piano. The arms on either side gives the picture a sense of balance, and the different shots of the keys at various angles gives it movement. I think the joiner is trying to display musical expression, as pianos are instruments usually thought as classical.
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12. This picture shows a middle aged man sitting on an armchair in a slightly cluttered room. The man is placed on one of the intersections between the middle and left third, and the man wears a troubled expression. He’s on his own, so the joiner could be about the loneliness of growing old.
