Art Bollocks, take 2

Hockney...what a load of...erm, stuff Ive seen so many on POL do equally as good. This tripe from the BBC...telling us why the latest sale figure of however many millions is actually worth it. Dear BBC...its not. Structure is one factor. It has a geometric formality - squares, rectangles and triangles - that provides a coherent and solid framework in which the more complex effects Hockney wants to capture can be clearly expressed.He was particularly interested in evoking in the viewer the sense of looking through a thin film of disturbed surface water, which is one of the reasons why it was so important to have the figure swimming below.It works.But it wasn't easy.Hockney abandoned his first attempt after months of experimenting with different compositional angles, and various technical approaches to applying his acrylic paint.The water is not the only elemental motif the artist is attempting to convey pictorially. Air and light and temperature are all essential factors in our reading of this contemporary pastoral scene. It is hot and still and clear: An idyllic day for swimming in an idyllic landscape (based on photographs he took in the South of France).And so our senses are aroused and receptive, while our desire for order is satisfied by the simplicity of geometric shapes.It's a good start, but it is not what makes Portrait of an Artist a memorable image.Part of its magic lies in the feeling of space Hockney has created. It sounds like a fairly simple thing to achieve, but it is fiendishly difficult. Ultimately, it requires the artist to paint thin air.The master of this particular craft was the 15th Century Italian artist Piero della Francesca (1415 - 1492), to whom Hockney owes a large debt. Look at the great Renaissance man's masterpiece The Flagellation of Christ (c.1450s), and you will see where the 81-year-old Yorkshireman found inspiration for his own painting.