LOS ANGELES, CA.- TASCHEN announced the opening of David Hockney A Bigger Book at the TASCHEN Gallery in Los Angeles, an exhibition celebrating more than 60 years of work by our greatest living painter and the release of his new limited edition SUMO-sized monograph, A Bigger Book.
The exhibition presents a unique opportunity to dive head first into this extraordinary publication and the dazzling Hockney universe. 498 original pages from the SUMO book and 600 pages from the accompanying chronology have been displayed across the gallerys 6,000-square-foot space, transforming it into an immersive and energetic showcase of the SUMO project.
A Bigger Book, TASCHENs SUMO-sized David Hockney monograph, is as spectacular in format as it is in scope. In it, the artist takes stock of more than 60 years of work, from his teenage days at the Bradford School of Art, through his breakthrough in 1960s Swinging London, life by Los Angeles pools in the 1970s, up to his recent extensive series of portraits, iPad drawings, and Yorkshire landscapes.
Never before has Hockneys oeuvre been published on such an astonishing and immersive scale. As each page unfurls in a blaze of blues, pinks, greens, and oranges, we are spellbound both by the artists vibrancy as a colorist and his extraordinary sense of the conditions of the world that surrounds us. Through Hockneys restless interrogation of perception and representation, we witness the mellow sheen of light on a muddy Yorkshire puddle, the ochre enormities of A Bigger Grand Canyon, the rustic majesty of Bigger Trees near Warter, and, of course, A Bigger Splash, with the exquisite sparkle of a turquoise pool beneath an iridescent California sky. These major paintings are joined by the artists drawings, photo-composites, multi-perspective collages, stage designs, multi-camera video works, and iPad drawings, each a panoply of looking and showing in different styles and media.
Hockney himself is present in every aspect of the publication. He collaborated closely through all production stages and conceived of this book as a purely visual survey of more than 450 works prefaced by a handwritten programmatic statement. As an artist who rarely looks back, the vast volume is as much his own personal review as it is a definitive record for art lovers all over the world. I dont tend to live in the past, he comments, Working on this book, I see quite how much I have done.
The books sumptuous portfolio is supplemented by an illustrated chronology of more than 600 pages, contextualizing Hockneys art with drawings, graphic work, portrait photos, and text based on the artists own writings as well as contemporary reviews. A Bigger Book is presented on a Marc Newson bookstand.