David Hockney Exhibition at LACMA Features 82 Portrait by the Artist

David Hockney 82 Portraits and 1 Still-Life LACMA Exhibits David Hockney Portraits David Hockney Exhibition

Installation photograph, David Hockney: 82 Portraits and 1 Still-life, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, April 15–July 29, 2018, art © David Hockney, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Following a popular tour across Europe and a successful stint in Australia, the celebrated exhibition, David Hockney: 82 Portraits and 1 Still-Life, has made its American debut at LACMA (the Los Angeles County Museum of Art). Featuring a colorful collection of portraits painted less than five years ago, the show offers a comprehensive look at the Pop Art pioneer's recent work.

With family members, close friends, and figures from the art world as his muses, Hockney created the series of portraits in his Hollywood Hills studio between 2013 and 2016. Rather than working from photographs, the artist opted to paint the figures from life, completing each portrait after “a 20-hour exposure”—a period during which his sitter would pose in a yellow chair. Rich in tone and intimate in nature, the series of portraits “provides insight into the artist’s life, his connections to the art world, and the people who have crossed his path recently.”

In addition to portraiture, this exhibition also features a single still-life: a selection of fruit on a small blue bench. Rendered in the same style style and color scheme as the portraits, the painting illustrates the artist's interest in playing with new subject matter. (This particular painting serves as a placeholder for the time he had to reschedule his painting of Ayn Grinstein, while she was busy with her father's funeral.)

A similar experimental approach is also evident in In the Studio, a complementary exhibition that includes a mural of the artist in his workspace. Composed of 3,000 photographs that have been digitally pieced together into “a three-dimensional approximation of space,” this method is a new endeavor for Hockney, who describes it as “a combination of photography and drawing and printing, each bringing out the best in the other.”

David Hockney: 82 Portraits and 1 Still-Life and In the Studio are currently on-view at LACMA from through July 29, 2018.

David Hockey: 82 Portraits and 1 Still-Life, an exhibition at LACMA, showcases a collection of 82 vivid portraits and a single still-life by the artist.

83 Portraits and 1 Still-life, Los Angeles, 18th May 2016, © David Hockney, photo by Jean-Pierre Gonçalves de Lima

David Hockney, Dr. Leon Banks, 12th, 13th, 15th November 2013 from 82 Portraits and 1 Still-life, acrylic on canvas (one of an 82-part work), 48 × 36 in., courtesy the artist, © David Hockney, photo by Richard Schmidt

David Hockney, Fruit on a Bench, 6th, 7th, 8th March 2014 from 82 Portraits and 1 Still-life, acrylic on canvas (one of an 82-part work), 48 × 36 in., courtesy the artist, © David Hockney, photo by Richard Schmidt

The portraits were created between 2013 and 2016 and feature some of Hockney's close friends, family members, and figures from the art world.

David Hockney, Gregory Evans, 1st, 2nd, 3rd December 2013 from 82 Portraits and 1 Still-life, acrylic on canvas (one of an 82-part work), 48 × 36 in., courtesy the artist, © David Hockney, photo by Richard Schmidt

David Hockney, Benedikt Taschen, 9th, 10th, 11th December 2013 from 82 Portraits and 1 Still-life, acrylic on canvas (one of an 82-part work), 48 × 36 in., courtesy the artist, © David Hockney, photo by Richard Schmidt

Each painting required a 3-day commitment from the sitter.

David Hockney, John Baldessari, 13th, 16th December 2013 from 82 Portraits and 1 Still-life, acrylic on canvas (one of an 82-part work), 48 × 36 in., courtesy the artist, © David Hockney, photo by Richard Schmidt

David Hockney, Stephanie Barron, 7th, 8th, 9th January 2014 from 82 Portraits and 1 Still-life, acrylic on canvas (one of an 82-part work), 48 × 36 in., courtesy the artist, © David Hockney, photo by Richard Schmidt

David Hockney, Dagny Corcoran, 15th, 16th, 17th January 2014 from 82 Portraits and 1 Still-life, acrylic on canvas (one of an 82-part work), 48 × 36 in., courtesy the artist, © David Hockney, photo by Richard Schmidt

David Hockney, Julie Green, 11th, 12th, 13th January 2015 from 82 Portraits and 1 Still-life, acrylic on canvas (one of an 82-part work), 48 × 36 in., courtesy the artist, © David Hockney, photo by Richard Schmidt

David Hockney, Barry Humphries, 26th, 27th, 28th March 2015 from 82 Portraits and 1 Still-life, acrylic on canvas (one of an 82-part work), 48 × 36 in., courtesy the artist, © David Hockney, photo by Richard Schmidt

David Hockney, Margaret Hockney, 14th, 15th, 16th August 2015 from 82 Portraits and 1 Still-life, acrylic on canvas (one of an 82-part work), 48 × 36 in., courtesy the artist, © David Hockney, photo by Richard Schmidt

David Hockney, Celia Birtwell, 31st August, 1st, 2nd September 2015 from 82 Portraits and 1 Still-life, acrylic on canvas (one of an 82-part work), 48 × 36 in., courtesy the artist, © David Hockney, photo by Richard Schmidt

David Hockney, Rufus Hale, 23rd, 24th, 25th November 2015 from 82 Portraits and 1 Still-life, acrylic on canvas (one of an 82-part work), 48 × 36 in., courtesy the artist, © David Hockney, photo by Richard Schmidt

David Hockney, Frank Gehry, 24th, 25th February 2016 from 82 Portraits and 1 Still-life, acrylic on canvas (one of an 82-part work), 48 × 36 in., courtesy the artist, © David Hockney, photo by Richard Schmidt

David Hockney, Earl Simms, 29th February, 1st, 2nd March 2016 from 82 Portraits and 1 Still-life, acrylic on canvas (one of an 82-part work), 48 × 36 in., courtesy the artist, © David Hockney, photo by Richard Schmidt

Installation photograph, David Hockney: 82 Portraits and 1 Still-life, Los Angeles County Museum of
Art, April 15–July 29, 2018, art © David Hockney, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Installation photograph, David Hockney: 82 Portraits and 1 Still-life, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, April 15–July 29, 2018, art © David Hockney, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

A complementary installation, In the Studio, includes a mural made of 3,000 stitched-together photographs.

Installation photograph, David Hockney, In the Studio, December 2017, photographic drawing printed on seven sheets of paper, mounted on seven sheets of Dibond, 109 1/2 x 299 1/4 in., courtesy the artist, © David Hockney, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA