Page 33 - PROTAGONIST-135

©David Hockney, May Blossom on the Roman Road, 2009

A few years ago, I saw a beautiful increasingly fantastic, increasingly for- imagining how to distill it onto a canvas:
documentary about him. It was filmed midable. Hockney is able to do this be- in acting through art, steadfast, to find
at the time when the artist was still liv- cause he is a true painter. Like those he a mark that is both decisive and all-en-
ing in Los Angeles (some time ago, so admires from the Renaissance or compassing.
because he has been back in London Mannerism: Piero della Francesca, Van Since his paintings are a joyous
since 2003). Eyck, Lorenzo Lotto, Velazquez… celebration of all the colors of the spec-
On a rare rainy day in California, He does this by constantly asking trum, I think of rainbows that only ap-
he explained to the interviewer how questions and seeking answers through pear in the sky after a thunderstorm,
he is intrigued by painting water. The painting. and I still remember that film, imagin-
pools, the splashes… but on that spe- Trusting the guidance of his own ing the artist thinking out loud: “Today
cific occasion he was observing the eyes as he travels the path towards art. it’s pouring outside so I’ll paint the rain,
downpour behind the glass of his ve- Hockney studied the old masters placing the easel by the window and
randa. He pointed at puddles next to extensively, searching for their secrets, watching.
a garden chair and how the drops cre- investigating, and striving to under- Meanwhile, I’ll search for the right
ate multitudes of concentric circles. stand how they could render reality in color with my hand and invent a gesture
“How do I render this in painting?”, such a fabulous and powerful way. So that the brush will readily and faithfully
he said. he thought of optical mechanisms and execute. So now it looks like it’s raining
And how did he manage to use supports to guide his hand: camera lu- on the canvas too...”.
colors and brushes to depict those cidas, lenses, and square glasses to But we know David Hockney’s
small waves, that continuous movement normalize vision. gift: tomorrow, there will be a paint-
of the water in his swimming pool in Cal- But the secret never lies in the tech- ing glimmering with a light so festive
ifornia? That shimmering reflection of nique or mechanical solution. Never. it will even color the rain thanks to a
the sun? He used a thousand solutions: The secret lies in looking at reality and miraculous iris.

Protagonist Art 31