aixcentric

If you loved the Musee Granet exhibition of David Hockney’s work and

a) are ready for more, and

b) will be in London before 4th June,

then here are details of ‘David Hockney: Bigger & Closer’ an immersive show which has just opened.

It’s on at Lightroom which is an enormous underground concrete cube, newly adapted for creative shows harnessing what they call their ‘vast space and revolutionary technology to create something completely new’.

So launching with Hockney is completely appropriate given his love of marrying his art with the latest tech developments.  I think back to an exhibition at the Hayward Gallery in about 1983 when he showed collages created with photocopied images, to show different view-points.  All seemed very edgy at the time…  Since then of course he’s had great fun with his iPad – or 12 at the same time as he informs us at this show!

Immersive art then is a fitting climax to his career. Around 250 of Hockney’s works are featured, spanning all six decades of his work.

The show is divided into six sections relating to his different themes.  His trees up in Yorkshire (above) are just wonderful; and the section on his arrival in ‘sunny and sexy LA’ bathes the walls of the cube in swimming pool blue, white ripples and hot sunshine.

My only disappointment was not to have more music.  It’s always such a plus at the shows at Les Baux. Instead we have the artist’s commentary throughout explaining his thought-processes and ways of approaching various subjects. But maybe that’s a plus for some. As the artist says,

“I’m 85 years old, so I don’t know how much longer I have. But some young person might see something here and think, well, I can see what you could do with this. I hope what it will do is give young people some ideas – perhaps on how to make movies in a completely new way. Cinema is dying. You can see any Hollywood film on a big screen at home. But this is a new kind of theatre, a new kind of cinema. With this, you have to go out and see it. And people do like going out!”

If you do like going out and visit the Lightroom, you can find it in the beautifully renovated Coal Drops Yard area (great fun – cafés, shops, fountains, pavement art, canal and barges) behind King’s Cross/St Pancras stations).

Details: Lightroom, Lewis Cubitt Square.

Nearest Station: King’s Cross St. Pancras (Circle, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan, Northern, Piccadilly, Northern line; National and International rail).

Opening Times

Mon – Wed: 9:45 – 21:00 (first show entry at 10.00)
Thu – Sat: 9:45 – 22:30 (first show entry at 10.00)
Sun: 9:45 – 21:00 (first show entry at 10.00)
Check for updated times during holiday seasons and bank holidays