David Hockney

David Hockney

21 quotes

British artist David Hockney (b. 1937) remains a towering presence in the world of memorable quotations. David Hockney's observations on Art are as sharp as their thoughts on Morning, revealing genuine breadth of mind. Our collection holds 24 quotes from David Hockney, each offering a different angle on Art, Morning, Family, Age, and Technology. A line that stays with you: "Art has to move you and design does not, unless it's a good design for a bus."

“Shadows sometimes people don't see shadows. The Chinese of course never paint them in pictures, oriental art never deals with shadow. But I noticed these shadows and I knew it meant it was sunny.”

— David Hockney

Art

All Quotes by David Hockney

“People criticized me for my photography. They said it's not art.”

— David Hockney

Art

“I'm a very early riser, and I don't like to miss that beautiful early morning light.”

— David Hockney

Morning

“I draw flowers every day and send them to my friends so they get fresh blooms every morning.”

— David Hockney

Morning

“I think my father would have liked to have been an artist, actually. But I think he didn't quite have perhaps the drive or, I don't know, I mean he had a family to bring up I suppose.”

— David Hockney

Family

“Well you can't teach the poetry, but you can teach the craft.”

— David Hockney

Poetry

“Listening is a positive act: you have to put yourself out to do it.”

— David Hockney

Positive

“Anyway I feel myself a bit on the edge on the art world, but I don't mind, I'm just pursuing my work in a very excited way. And there isn't really a mainstream anymore, is there?”

— David Hockney

Art

“To me, the world's rather beautiful if you look at it. Especially nature.”

— David Hockney

Nature

“The moment you cheat for the sake of beauty, you know you're an artist.”

— David Hockney

Art

“We live in an age where the artist is forgotten. He is a researcher. I see myself that way.”

— David Hockney

Age

“Art has to move you and design does not, unless it's a good design for a bus.”

— David Hockney

Art

“You had to be aware that I saw that photography was a mere episode in the history of the optical projection and when the chemicals ended, meaning the picture was fixed by chemicals, we were in a new era.”

— David Hockney

History

“I'm interested in all kinds of pictures, however they are made, with cameras, with paint brushes, with computers, with anything.”

— David Hockney

Computers

“I was always struck by how Picasso had no interest in music.”

— David Hockney

Music

“In my old age, I'll be in L.A.”

— David Hockney

Age

“Shadows sometimes people don't see shadows. The Chinese of course never paint them in pictures, oriental art never deals with shadow. But I noticed these shadows and I knew it meant it was sunny.”

— David Hockney

Art

“I go and see anything that's visually new, any technology that's about picture-making. The technology won't make the pictures different, but someone using it will.”

— David Hockney

Technology

“I went to art school actually when I was sixteen years old.”

— David Hockney

Art

“What an artist is trying to do for people is bring them closer to something, because of course art is about sharing. You wouldn't be an artist unless you wanted to share an experience, a thought.”

— David Hockney

Art

“Cubism was an attack on the perspective that had been known and used for 500 years. It was the first big, big change. It confused people: they said, 'Things don't look like that!'”

— David Hockney

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