Artist talking about themselves

My late father – no mean watercolourist but above all a fine preceptor of humanity – once observed of a painter he knew:

“I don’t think he is much good but he is very good at talking about his art “

Talking about art and doing it are two different skills.

Picasso mixed with a lot of writers and poets like Apollinaire and Max Jacob talked about art fluently though not always precisely.

One artist who   still talks about art in the most engaging and life enhancing way is 85 year old David Hockney.

On a Sky Arts special last Monday he was interviewed by Melvyn Bragg, one year his junior, and it made for compelling television.

Hockney moved to Normandy in 2018 and learned how to paint there with a new medium of an iPad.

Many approaching such an age would be deterred by a move and new medium.  Not Hockney.

At Hornsey College of Art he shocked many with his dress.

Less well known was that he attended life drawing classes, which were not compulsory, and every lunch hour visited the National Gallery to study the paintings of the great artists like inter alia Paolo Uccello’s Rout at Romano .

Aside from his bohemianism and adaptability he retains an impish humour.

On his colourful suit he wore a badge stating ‘End bossiness now’ adding that if he put “Stop” that in itself would be bossy. To call him a national treasure or grand old man would be trite but as well as great artist he is an inspiring human being.