Hockney and me

Who is David Hockney and how his work influences and inspires me.

"There's a point where you have to interpret the world, not make a replica of it."
- David Hockney

Felt pen study of the Little Qualicum River Estuary

I've been immersing myself in the life and work of David Hockney in preparation for my coming exhibition at The Old School House entitled "What Would Hockney Do?" (January 2026).

At the tender age of 88, David Hockney is currently the top-selling living artist and considered one of the most influential artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. He has worked in oil, acrylic and watercolours, print, collage and created several opera sets. Hockney loves to play with technology and has used photography, photocopiers, fax machines, the iPhone and the iPad to create his works.

I was a big fan of Hockney before I even knew that I was a fan of his. I had a poster of his painting “Mount Fuji and flowers,” and a postcard of his Pearblossom Hwy photo collage on my wall. I counted his pool series among my favourite paintings, not realizing that they were all from the same artist.

Mount Fuji and Flowers by David Hockney — Mount Fuji and Flowers (David Hockney: A Retrospective, The Metropolitan Museum of Art June 18 - August 1988) Exhibition poster

Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures), 1972, sold for $90.3 million in 2018, an auction record at the time for work by a living artist. Note that Hockney doesn't get a share of revenue when his paintings are resold. This painting sold for $18,000 in 1972, a portion of which stayed with the gallery.

A Bigger Splash (1967) — "A Bigger Splash" (1967)

Hockney loves to mix styles and to question and reinterpret the tenets of art from perspective and portraiture, to still life and landscape painting. He also draws tremendous inspiration from other artists and especially the old Masters.

I find his approach to life and art tremendously inspiring. When I start a new painting, I often ask myself the question “What would Hockney do?”.

Lately I have been thinking about what to paint (everything is interesting according to Hockney) and about perspective (it changes with time, memory and mood). I've learned that David Hockney is in the "constant business of looking" and this has made me look at things more closely and intensely. He has also made me think about how we experience art because he is obsessed with making people feel like they are in his paintings rather than outside, looking at them. The felt pen study above will become a 36"x36" painting, in preparation for the creation of much larger piece.

My wish is that by advancing my own artistic pursuit through this project, people will be invited to reflect upon the nature of inspiration and influence in art and that when they look at my work, they will be inspired too.