16TH MARCH 2021, TULIPS IN CUT GLASS, 2021

  • 16TH MARCH 2021, TULIPS IN CUT GLASS, 2021, David Hockney
    16th March, 2021, Tulips in cut glass, 2021
    iPad painting printed on paper, 89 x 63.5 cm
    Edition of 50
    ©David Hockney
     
    Tulips in Cut Glass shows Hockney zeroing in on the drama of colour and transparency. The vivid purple and pink tulips rise from a sharply rendered cut glass vase, where reflections and refractions are built from quick digital strokes. The red checked tablecloth anchors the composition and gives a sense of domestic familiarity, while the dark background isolates the bouquet, forcing the viewer’s attention onto the saturated forms and lively drawing. Every mark feels responsive to the real object in front of him, not a carefully staged still life.
     
    The work highlights how Hockney uses the iPad to bring energy back into one of art’s oldest subjects. He captures flowers as they are in the moment, petals shifting, stems leaning, colour changing with the light. The cut glass vase becomes a technical challenge he meets with immediacy, adjusting line and tone on the spot. Printed at scale, the digital drawing gains the physical presence of a traditional artwork while keeping its freshness intact. It is a contemporary still life rooted in speed, observation and the thrill of looking.
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  • "It takes a long time to make it simple"

     
    - David Hockney
    Hockney uses colour here like a spotlight. The rich purples and pinks of the tulips dominate the composition, immediately pulling the eye upward into the bouquet. These saturated hues sit against a background of deep brown, which feels almost theatrical in the way it isolates and intensifies every tone in front of it. Hockney is using colour to make you look properly at something most people would only glance at on their way out the door.