With over 40 of Hockney’s drawings on loan from private collections, Love Life is a wonderful way to enjoy Hockney’s artistry and extraordinary power of observation and skill in using tiny, mundane details to help capture a situation, a sitter’s character, or a place.
Hockney’s finding of beauty in the ordinary is most beautifully expressed in his still lifes; from a box of matches on a table to prosaic bunches of spring onions and leeks. This sense of delight is also expressed in his renditions of architectural exteriors and interiors, with a particular interest in empty rooms, chairs, and windows. It is also a key aspect of his famous portrait drawings, in which he uses closely observed details to capture the character of his subject – the twist of restaurateur Peter Langan’s tie, a cigar protruding from Henry Geldzahler’s fingers – and their setting; precisely rendering certain details of the furniture in a room, whether they be Celia Birtwell’s Breuer chair, or cars in a Viennese street behind the artist R.B. Kitaj. Whatever the subject matter, Hockney always captures it with both sensitivity and a certain wit.
