LONDON.- Hockney Unlocked launches online this week, to encourage people across the UK and beyond to spend an hour in the Yorkshire countryside with David Hockney, Britain’s greatest and best-loved living artist.

Hockney Unlocked consists of 80 short films produced, directed and edited by Bruno Wollheim. This exclusive behind-the-scenes footage shows Hockney as never before: at work, relaxing, joking, unguarded, always unpredictable and larger than life.

The films will be released daily on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.

On YouTube, Wollheim has created a curated space, writing a commentary on each of the short films informed by a friendship stretching back thirty years.

The films are outtakes from Wollheim’s award-winning documentary, David Hockney: A Bigger Picture, filmed single-handedly over five years with unprecedented access to David Hockney.

Wollheim says: “This was a special time for David: he’d come back to his Yorkshire roots from California, his painting was at its most fluent, and his restless soul had found some contentment.

“People have responded really positively to the documentary since it came out, to David’s charm and originality, his sheer creative force, and the thrill of looking over his shoulder as he re-imagines in paint the landscape of his childhood.

“Few films have had such access to a great artist at work. Now we need that company more than ever, and that solace he found in the glorious English countryside through the seasons.”

David Hockney: A Bigger Picture is available to stream on demand at https://vimeo.com/ondemand/116394