Topic: David Hockney: Parallel to Nature

Time: Thursday, June 12, 2025, 15:00 - 17:00

Venue: B324, New Main Building, Xueyuan Road Campus

Speaker: Heinz-Norbert Jocks

Interpreter: He Jian

Moderator: Shen Xukun

Panelists: Wang Shuo, Li Jia, Cui Jiuxiao

Registration:

Students are invited to enroll via the Boya Classroom platform: https://bykc.buaa.edu.cn

Abstract:

David Hockney, one of the most accomplished and versatile painters of our time, remains a steadfast believer in the enduring power of painting—even at the age of 88. His work dismantles the myth of the medium’s demise, charting a vibrant path toward its eternal future. With wit, sensuality, and visual delight, Hockney demonstrates why painting, as a joyful human practice since the dawn of cave art, remains irreplaceable by digital media—both in its emotional resonance and expressive depth.

This lecture traces Hockney’s 65-year artistic journey, highlighting how he has continuously reinvented painting through cutting-edge tools—fax machines, photocopiers, Polaroids, digital cameras, iPads, and more. Far from being a central figure in Pop Art, Hockney emerges as a perpetual surfer of its waves, crafting a mythos around his personal life. His oeuvre, in essence, unfolds as an intimate diary.

Before finding his distinctive style, Hockney drew inspiration from Art Brut, Jean Dubuffet, and like-minded painters. Later, he engaged in dialogues with both Old Masters and contemporaries. Picasso, a recurring figure in his writings, remains a profound influence. Ultimately, Hockney’s work teaches us how to see: for him, vision is the foundation of understanding. This is why he has long experimented with photography, yet he critiques its limitations, arguing that it fails to capture reality as we experience it. Hockney bridges the act of seeing with the act of living. To him, every fragment of the visible world holds equal significance. He is an observer who envisions the coexistence of all beings, and a prophet of a new visual age.