Happy Birthday,David Hockney OM CH RA. 9thJuly 1937.
The Splash.acrylic on canvas.Painted in Los Angeles towards the end of 1966.The Splash is the second in a three-part sequence of variations on the very same theme. It is sanwiched between the much smaller The Little Splash and Tate's A Bigger Splash,which was created early the following year in Berkeley during a teaching post.When comparing the two,this work's scale of 72 by 72 inches is immersive and rivals the colossal dimensions of it's sister version,the compositions are almost identical, with the large bands of unprimed canvas framing the clean lines and still colour fields of the central image;whilst the splash itself is rendered with equal deftness and dexterity in both canvases-the immediacy of a split-second moment is here immortalised by brushstrokes of careful application and minute articulation.
The Splash and its pendent piece undoubtedly represent the apex of Hockney's Californian fantasy which started life following the artist's first trip to LA in 1964.Hockney's 'Splashes' revealed the artist's pre-eminence as a leading light of his generation.With these works, Hockney demonstrated his singular ability to absorb and resolve the disparate concerns of Abstract Expressionism,Minimalism, and Pop art in a style that was entirely his own. #davidhockney#britishartists#englishpainter#artistsbirthday#inspirationalart#art_we_inspire#artlovers#artlovers#hotday#onlinegallery#acrylicpainting#hockney#swimmingpool#splash#gallerywall#popart#masterpiece#modernart#contemporarypainting#influencer#kunst#galerie#acrylic#peinture#peintre#frozenintime#artoninstagram#tate#artsy#hotday#arthistory