DAVID HOCKNEY

WHAT?  David Hockney: Bigger & Closer (not smaller & further away) 

WHERE?  The Lightroom, 12 Cubitt Square, London N1C 4DY

WHEN?  Now until 4th June  

WHY GO?  Deep inside a concrete den, all enveloping screens surround a vast open pit and belt out sounds and supersized Hockney images from all angles. 

There are people dotted about, some lounging on the odd seat, others standing in awe as Hockney’s dulcet tones dissect seven decades of his lifetime’s work, magnified and multiplied in this immersive scenario.

It’s an experience.  It’s not an art gallery exhibition.  It’s a piece of theatrical staging and indeed, the decade devoted to his numerous artworks for the opera and ballet are amongst the most thrilling as they are accompanied by the magical music of Mozart and Wagner.

Hockney’s iconic LA period of swimming pool paintings are projected sky high as photo-collages to the sounds of trickling water and anecdotal quips.

His most recent iPad topic, the trees of Normandy and Yorkshire, are technically teamed up with cinematic visuals of rain suggesting an incumbent thunder storm. 

And to be frank, this show has created quite a storm. 

IN THE KNOW  Many loyal Hockney fans suggest he’s ‘sold out’ to tech wizardry, others that he’s simply pushing the boundaries of his art. 

Either way, this is Hockney at his most imaginative but it is also Hockney at quite a price.  Tickets cost a whopping £27.50 each which makes viewing Hockney on a gallery wall seem like quite a bargain.