David Hockney RA talks about landscape painting

David Hockney RA - A Bigger Picture - Gallery Guide
opening at the Royal Academy of Arts on 21 January 2012

I'm currently writing a review of the new exhibition by David Hockney at the Royal Academy of Arts - David Hockney RA - A Bigger Picture - which I saw today.  It opens to the public on Saturday 21st January.

The exhibition focuses on his recent landscape painting and the majority of the artwork on display in the complete suite of Main Galleries are paintings of the Wolds in East Yorkshire.  This is the area inland from Bridlington where he now lives.

I've rapidly arrived at the conclusion that I need to deal with various specific aspects of the exhibition in posts on this blog - which is what I'll be doing.

This particular post provides an index of opportunities to hear David Hockney talking about his landscape painting and why he's been painting the Easy Yorkshire Wolds in particular for the last few years.

One of the interesting aspects of David Hockney is that he is very articulate and not at all bashful about airing his views on art, painting and anything else he's interested in.

Below you can find links to:

• a ten minute Channel 4 News interview with David Hockney (posted today) in which he talks about the attractions of the East Yorkshire countryside, his use of the iPad for sketching

• HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Sunday Feature - New Ways of Seeing with David Hockney - an hour long Radio 3 programme  in which Rachel Campbell-Johnston interviews David Hockney at his Bridlington home and his studio ahead of the major exhibition at the Royal Academy.  The link is to where you can access it via iPlayer Catchup. 
• HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Bruno Wollheim's film (available on DVD) - made over the course of 3 years and first aired on the BBC in 2009 - is one of the best films I've ever seen of the contemporary practice of a painter painting plein air.  There's a lot of film of Hockney painting.  You also get to see how he works with his team of studio assistants.  Read my review of the film when originally shown on the BBC - Review: David Hockney - A Bigger Picture
• Amazon UK - David Hockney: A Bigger Picture
• Amazon.com - David Hockney: A Bigger Picture

Wolf Kahn - 6 good reasons not to paint a landscape

There's a 2002 Forum Network lecture by Wolf Kahn - highlighting 6 good reasons not to paint a landscape - in which he discusses landscape painting.

Wolf Kahn, an influential modern landscape painter, explains why people become artists, despite the apparent impracticality of art.

Wolf Kahn - 6 good reasons not to paint a landscape

His lecture is organised around the six reasons he puts forward which are:

1. There's no ideology these days to back up landscape painting
2. It's all been done
3. It's far too polite - it ends up in hospital waiting rooms and corporate boardrooms
4. You're mistaken by the public to be a lover of beauty
5. You're mistaken to be an environmentalist
6. There's no politics in landscape painting

There's a link which indicates you can download the audio file of the lecture to listen to as a podcast.

Thanks to Loriann Signori who highlighted this on her blog today.

The lecture is on The Forum Network which is a public media service of WGBH in Boston

So - did you listen to the lecture?  What do you think?