You Can Love David Hockney and Still Hate His iPad Paintings

A Hyperallergic review critiques David Hockney’s large-scale iPad work A Year in Normandie (2020–21), a 295-foot (about 90-meter) composite of more than 100 printed iPad paintings shown at Serpentine Galleries in London in March as part of the exhibition A Year in Normandie and Some Other Thoughts About Painting. The review contrasts Hockney’s piece with the 11th-century Bayeux Tapestry, a 230-foot (about 70-meter) linen narrative of the Norman conquest that the article says has returned to England for a forthcoming British Museum exhibition. It notes that Hockney, who died last month at age 88, had argued against the Bayeux Tapestry being loaned by the French government due to conservation risks, while his Serpentine presentation invoked the tapestry and 14th-century Chinese scrolls as precedents. The critic argues that curatorial framing about “endless invention” and fusing digital tools with ancient traditions does not overcome what they see as weaker mark-making and color compared with Hockney’s earlier work.

Read the full article at Hyperallergic