Customer Reviews

True to Life: Twenty-Five Years of Conversations with David Hockney

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This is a wonderful book, consisting largely of conversations between the writer Lawrence Weschler & the artist David Hockney. Through these dialogues they jointly explore aspects of the phenomenology of perception, and the ways in which various media (painting, drawing, photography), as well as improvements in optical technology (the camera obscura, and the camera lucida) literally change our sense of what looks 'normal' or 'real.'

Thus this book (with beautiful photos of Hockney's drawings, paintings, collages, etc.) is not simply a contribution to art criticism, but also to art history, and to the broader study of the technical, historical and cultural factors that shape representation. In this manner, this book contributes to some rather deep discussions in the realm of 'media ecologies,' as developed by Walter Ong.

If all the above makes the book seem like a dusty tome, forgive me. The book is - via its conversational structure - a delight and pleasure to read. The reader is made to feel present in the artist's Hollywood Hills studio, listening in on an amazing co-exploration.

Lots and lots of Hockney's ideas on art. I was gratified that Hockney thinks abstract art is a dead end.
Though the artist's who explored abstract art forced it to work by their sincerity.

It is refreshing to find an artist, like Hockney, who is so articulate about his art and ideas.

Weschler does an excellent job putting together decades of conversations.

This is a remarkable book not just about the artist but about seeing and the history of painting