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David Hockney on assistant's death: 'I nearly gave up' David Hockney on assistant's death: 'I nearly gave up'
(4 months later)
David Hockney has spoken for the first time about his inability to draw following the sudden death of his young assistant earlier this year.David Hockney has spoken for the first time about his inability to draw following the sudden death of his young assistant earlier this year.
The 75-year-old artist told the Guardian that he had stopped working for a while following the shock death in March of Dominic Elliott, 23, whose family said he was like a son to Hockney. Grieving and "very upset", Hockney put on hold plans to document the seasons in the east Yorkshire wolds in 2013 – a ritual he has carried out regularly since moving to Bridlington from California in 2005.The 75-year-old artist told the Guardian that he had stopped working for a while following the shock death in March of Dominic Elliott, 23, whose family said he was like a son to Hockney. Grieving and "very upset", Hockney put on hold plans to document the seasons in the east Yorkshire wolds in 2013 – a ritual he has carried out regularly since moving to Bridlington from California in 2005.
At the time of his death Elliot was part of the team preparing for Hockney's annual engagement with the seasons. The keen rugby and hockey player had worked with Hockney for over two years and had sat for a number of portraits, including a black and white charcoal sketch completed in January this year.At the time of his death Elliot was part of the team preparing for Hockney's annual engagement with the seasons. The keen rugby and hockey player had worked with Hockney for over two years and had sat for a number of portraits, including a black and white charcoal sketch completed in January this year.
Hockney said in an interview this week: "I wanted to make five sets of five drawings as the spring progressed and I finished the first set in January. I was very pleased with them. One was even printed in the Guardian. The intention was to go back to them whenever the spring occurred. But then Dominic died. It was an awful time and I was very upset. I thought I might not do it at all this year. I thought I might go back to LA for a bit. I didn't quite know what to do."Hockney said in an interview this week: "I wanted to make five sets of five drawings as the spring progressed and I finished the first set in January. I was very pleased with them. One was even printed in the Guardian. The intention was to go back to them whenever the spring occurred. But then Dominic died. It was an awful time and I was very upset. I thought I might not do it at all this year. I thought I might go back to LA for a bit. I didn't quite know what to do."
A postmortem found "no obvious natural causes" for Elliott's death. Exactly how and why he died remains unclear, and an inquest has been adjourned until August.A postmortem found "no obvious natural causes" for Elliott's death. Exactly how and why he died remains unclear, and an inquest has been adjourned until August.
In the end it has been a combination of Hockney's return to drawing and the vagaries of the English weather that eventually encouraged him back to work after the trauma of Elliott's death. "The spring didn't start until late April this year. I wasn't doing anything much, had nearly given up, and was still thinking about going to LA when my assistant, Jean-Pierre, said I didn't really have an option. I had to continue with the work.In the end it has been a combination of Hockney's return to drawing and the vagaries of the English weather that eventually encouraged him back to work after the trauma of Elliott's death. "The spring didn't start until late April this year. I wasn't doing anything much, had nearly given up, and was still thinking about going to LA when my assistant, Jean-Pierre, said I didn't really have an option. I had to continue with the work.
"And he was right. I'm not going to retire. I just keep working and that's what I think I should do. We still had a chance to catch the spring and so long as I was drawing I was fine. You can lose yourself in the work and this late spring has made things speed up and so you have to work harder to keep up. If it comes late it seems it comes faster. The hawthorn isn't out here yet – though I'm told it is in the south of England – but I've already done one drawing of where it will be, and while I do have to be in LA soon, of course I'm going to wait for it.""And he was right. I'm not going to retire. I just keep working and that's what I think I should do. We still had a chance to catch the spring and so long as I was drawing I was fine. You can lose yourself in the work and this late spring has made things speed up and so you have to work harder to keep up. If it comes late it seems it comes faster. The hawthorn isn't out here yet – though I'm told it is in the south of England – but I've already done one drawing of where it will be, and while I do have to be in LA soon, of course I'm going to wait for it."
Hockney has completed 21 of 25 planned drawings and the complete set will be exhibited in San Francisco in October. Friends talk about him having good days and bad days but he says, "all we do now is cook, eat, work and sleep. So 'keep drawing' is what I say. These new works are taking quite a long time to do, three or four days each, especially now with all the flowers and the ferns and everything. So it is a lot of work, but I am also very pleased that we're completing what we all set out to do.Hockney has completed 21 of 25 planned drawings and the complete set will be exhibited in San Francisco in October. Friends talk about him having good days and bad days but he says, "all we do now is cook, eat, work and sleep. So 'keep drawing' is what I say. These new works are taking quite a long time to do, three or four days each, especially now with all the flowers and the ferns and everything. So it is a lot of work, but I am also very pleased that we're completing what we all set out to do.
"Of course it's still a very sad situation about Dominic and I'm still very sad myself. But I'm also OK. When you are drawing and working you seem to get outside yourself, and at the moment I think that is a very good thing.""Of course it's still a very sad situation about Dominic and I'm still very sad myself. But I'm also OK. When you are drawing and working you seem to get outside yourself, and at the moment I think that is a very good thing."
Since Hockney swapped the unchangingly blue Californian skies of Santa Monica for the rather less predictable weather of Bridlington as his principal home in 2005 he has been preoccupied by his remarkable project to capture the dramatically changing climate of the east Yorkshire wolds.Since Hockney swapped the unchangingly blue Californian skies of Santa Monica for the rather less predictable weather of Bridlington as his principal home in 2005 he has been preoccupied by his remarkable project to capture the dramatically changing climate of the east Yorkshire wolds.
The most high profile presentation of this work came at the Royal Academy in 2012, which Elliott helped to mount. When the Guardian interviewed Hockney prior to the exhibition Elliott was a garrulously enthusiastic presence both in the vast industrial estate studio and round the lunch table at the artist's home. When the show opened a few weeks later, and after this paper had given it a less than glowing review, Elliott pretended to orchestrate a mob after spotting our reporter at the exhibition. His usual big grin transformed into a pantomime grimace as he cried: "It's the Guardian. Let's get 'em lads."The most high profile presentation of this work came at the Royal Academy in 2012, which Elliott helped to mount. When the Guardian interviewed Hockney prior to the exhibition Elliott was a garrulously enthusiastic presence both in the vast industrial estate studio and round the lunch table at the artist's home. When the show opened a few weeks later, and after this paper had given it a less than glowing review, Elliott pretended to orchestrate a mob after spotting our reporter at the exhibition. His usual big grin transformed into a pantomime grimace as he cried: "It's the Guardian. Let's get 'em lads."
It was at the Royal Academy where Hockney introduced viewers not only to his paintings, but also to drawings made on an iPad as well as multi-camera, high-definition films of the trees, hedgerows, fields and skies of his native county. But that show was never intended to be an end point, and by January this year Hockney had already embarked on a new programme of work for 2013.It was at the Royal Academy where Hockney introduced viewers not only to his paintings, but also to drawings made on an iPad as well as multi-camera, high-definition films of the trees, hedgerows, fields and skies of his native county. But that show was never intended to be an end point, and by January this year Hockney had already embarked on a new programme of work for 2013.
The change from winter to spring has been at the heart of this project, with one of the centrepieces of his much celebrated Royal Academy show last year being the vast, 32ft by 12ft, painting The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire in 2011 (twenty eleven), a riot of reds, blues, yellows, purples and browns as well as spring-like green depicting a wooded Roman road near Bridlington. A few years ago Hockney was so frustrated at having to leave home before the hawthorn came into flower that his annual diary was re-arranged so that he could guarantee to be there for what he describes as "action week", that moment when nature explodes from winter monochrome into spring colour.The change from winter to spring has been at the heart of this project, with one of the centrepieces of his much celebrated Royal Academy show last year being the vast, 32ft by 12ft, painting The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire in 2011 (twenty eleven), a riot of reds, blues, yellows, purples and browns as well as spring-like green depicting a wooded Roman road near Bridlington. A few years ago Hockney was so frustrated at having to leave home before the hawthorn came into flower that his annual diary was re-arranged so that he could guarantee to be there for what he describes as "action week", that moment when nature explodes from winter monochrome into spring colour.
So why the move now to charcoal greys? "It's a pretty new medium for me and something fresh which I like," he says. "And it allows for incredible subtlety, you can make very small marks on the page. It's not that I've given up the iPad. I will use it again as it's another medium. But in the end drawing is drawing, I've always done it. People should never have given up on it."So why the move now to charcoal greys? "It's a pretty new medium for me and something fresh which I like," he says. "And it allows for incredible subtlety, you can make very small marks on the page. It's not that I've given up the iPad. I will use it again as it's another medium. But in the end drawing is drawing, I've always done it. People should never have given up on it."
His own long-term commitment to the form is on display in a new exhibition opening at the Ashmolean museum in Oxford this week. Hockney's 1973 pen and ink drawing, Henry Writing, Lucca, will be displayed alongside works on paper ranging from Raphael, Leonardo, Titian and Rembrandt through to Gwen John and Antony Gormley. "It's fine seeing your work alongside these other artists so long as it stands up," he says. "Some of them do and some of them don't."His own long-term commitment to the form is on display in a new exhibition opening at the Ashmolean museum in Oxford this week. Hockney's 1973 pen and ink drawing, Henry Writing, Lucca, will be displayed alongside works on paper ranging from Raphael, Leonardo, Titian and Rembrandt through to Gwen John and Antony Gormley. "It's fine seeing your work alongside these other artists so long as it stands up," he says. "Some of them do and some of them don't."
Master Drawings is at the Ashmolean museum, Oxford, from 25 May to 18 AugustMaster Drawings is at the Ashmolean museum, Oxford, from 25 May to 18 August
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