Rob Perrée: David Hockney, the artist as a gay man

Contents:

• DAVID HOCKNEY: A PORTRA OF THE ARTIST AS A GAY MAN
• DAVID HOCKNEY'S DOUBLE PORTRA OF GAY BT FRIEND FETCH NEARLY $50 MILLN AT CHRISTIE'S LONDON
• 'TOTALLY HYPNOTIZG' HOCKNEY PORTRA OF FAMO GAY COUPLE COULD FETCH $38 MILLN AT CHRISTIE'S
• DAVID HOCKNEY WIKI, GAY, PARTNER, FACTS, NET WORTH, TODAY
• ‘A BIGGER SPLASH’ TRAILER: DAVID HOCKNEY FILM CAPTUR 1970S HEDONISTIC GAY LIFE

DAVID HOCKNEY: A PORTRA OF THE ARTIST AS A GAY MAN

More importantly, Hockney has given an imagery through which we n beg to unrstand the whe gay male experience 1970s Los Angel.

Hockney was an artist who fied generally-accepted social stctur and led his life as an openly gay man a world that systematilly opprsed and silenced those who did not nform. 5Quickly, Hockney also sought to rporate allns to his own homosexualy his patgs, spired by the texts of Christopher Isherwood and Alan Rechy, which revelled the explos of their homosexual characters.

At the time, homosexualy was illegal England, so Hockney pated self-portras. He was gay and pated himself, effectively creatg gay art, but flyg unr the radar. But Hockney also started his Love Patgs, which celebrated homosexual love by rporatg phallic elements tanm wh fantastil lors and imagery.

DAVID HOCKNEY'S DOUBLE PORTRA OF GAY BT FRIEND FETCH NEARLY $50 MILLN AT CHRISTIE'S LONDON

This was his attempt to fe the dividual, the real, and the imagary to provi a homosexual space of pleasure and actualized sire. Bohemian liftyl were the new fad, artists were weled wh arms wi open, and the gay scene was bubblg wh possibili. ” Hockney wanted to celebrate jt how different the gay liftyle is om the heterosexual one.

'TOTALLY HYPNOTIZG' HOCKNEY PORTRA OF FAMO GAY COUPLE COULD FETCH $38 MILLN AT CHRISTIE'S

1It is out of this need to portray gay life that Hockney started formulatg his hedonistic, sun-bathed image of California. Hockney loved Cavafy's direct and simple poems about doomed homosexual love, and even went to Alexandria and Beit, where many of the poems are set, to get the display at the Walker are 12 prts bought by the Arts Council Collectn 1966.

"Hockney the 1960s was makg work on subjects he knew and red about – primarily beg a young gay man when you really uldn't shout about . )Bantas said they were keen to build a show around the patg, and have borrowed siarly themed works, cludg Man Shower Beverly Hills om the exhibn is beg staged as part of Liverpool's Homotopia Ftival 2013, and Bantas hop people will see Hockney as somethg of a gay hero. David Hockney is openly gay.

David Hockney’s double portra of the openly gay artist’s bt iend and legendary New York art world celebry curator Henry Geldzahler overshadowg his then-boyiend Christopher Stt sold this eveng at Christie’s London for £37.

DAVID HOCKNEY WIKI, GAY, PARTNER, FACTS, NET WORTH, TODAY

Works such as Hockney’s “We Two Boys Together Clgg” (1961), a homage to a Walt Whman poem, are among Hockney’s celebratn of gay upl.

“Henry Geldzahler and Christopher Stt” featur a more subtle take on homosexualy, wh the burly curator domatg the foreont a sual yet swashbucklg seated pose and lookg straight ahead at the viewer, while his slight partner stands at the si of the sofa, drowng an oversized trench at and gazg past his lover. Hockney was openly gay, and has remaed a stnch advote for gay rights.

It is one of the first, however, to addrs homoeroticism, an important theme his work. At a time when homosexual activy was still illegal both the U.

‘A BIGGER SPLASH’ TRAILER: DAVID HOCKNEY FILM CAPTUR 1970S HEDONISTIC GAY LIFE

The tle is a direct quote om Walt Whman, master of homoerotic poetry, and the image was spired by a report of a climbg accint a newspaper that read "Two Boys Clg to Cliff All Night. At a time when homosexualy was still illegal the U.