- Published:
- Tuesday 19 April 2016
The National Gallery of Victoria will follow up its record-breaking Andy Warhol |Ai Weiwei blockbuster with another world premiere summer exhibition featuring one of the world’s most influential contemporary artists.
Minister for Creative Industries Martin Foley today announced the next exhibition in the NGV’s summer series, an innovative survey of the work of iconic British artist David Hockney.
An important contributor to the British pop art movement of the 1960s, Hockney – who is now 78 – is renowned as Britain’s greatest living artist.
After rising to prominence as a prolific painter and photographer, Hockney is also known for experimenting with and mastering new technologies. He has produced thousands of drawings and works using video as well as iPhone and iPad applications.
Opening on 11 November, the exhibition will be curated by the NGV in collaboration with David Hockney. It will feature more than 700 works from the past decade, including paintings, digital drawings, photography and video. Many of the works are new, and most have never been seen in Australia.
Highlights will include a portrait gallery featuring more than 80 recent portraits of the artist’s family and friends, including Victoria’s own Barry Humphries.
The exhibition will also bring Hockney’s largest work, Bigger Trees Near Warter, to Australia for the first time. The work, which will be loaned to the NGV by London’s Tate Britain, is made up of fifty oil-on-canvas panels.
The exhibition will be the fourth in the National Gallery of Victoria’s ‘NGV Contemporary Summer’ series which is supported by the Andrews Labor Government.
The series has included popular contemporary art and design exhibitions, including Melbourne Now, The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier and Andy Warhol |Ai Weiwei.
David Hockney will be on display at NGV International from 11 November 2016 – 13 March 2017. Open daily, 10am-5pm. For more information, visit www.ngv.vic.gov.au(opens in a new window)
Quotes attributable to Minister for Creative Industries Martin Foley
“David Hockney has been a cultural innovator and influencer for more than 60 years, so this Australian-exclusive exhibition is yet another coup for our country’s most popular gallery, the NGV.”
“It will continue the tradition of bringing the best contemporary art and design exhibitions to Melbourne each summer – giving Victorians and visitors alike an insight into one of the world’s greatest living artists and most creative minds.”
“This exhibition will be another must-see event for Victoria in 2016 and I can’t wait to welcome it to Melbourne.”