Like most of David Hockney’s work, the pictures that make up The Yosemite Suite are good natured. Bright as if back lit, these aren’t paintings. Charming and cheerful, they are prints made from drawings that the artist produced on an iPad. The first impression is delightful. The painting have a child-like innocence. But there is more to it than bright, pretty colors. [1] The iPad is a small physical interface. The trick here is taking an image produced on a small scale format and blowing the picture up to turn the image into a medium or large scale print. [2] On the one hand, the use of the iPad landscape tradition has been de-sublimated by this very “easy” and versatile contemporary technology. [3] On the other hand, viewed close-up, some of these prints give off a distinctly spectral quality. Hockney has been working with iPad prints for the last six or seven years. These are currently on view in NYC at Pace through June.
