The Art and Technology of Depiction 

This exhibition is the first to explore the many ways of seeing and depicting in the art of David Hockney and to give an account of pictures and picture-making seen through his eyes.

Hockney is the most intellectually restless of the great contemporary artists. Over a long career, he has continuously explored how the surface of a flat picture can convey what we actually see, radically questioning traditional ways of depicting space, and engaging deeply with modern technologies.

Naturalistic techniques familiar in works by earlier painters, including the optical rules of perspective, have been displaced in his art by more dynamic ways of seeing — what Hockney calls ‘eyeballing’. 

Seeing things in perspective

This exhibition is not presented in the traditional spaces for temporary exhibitions. It is really a takeover of the second floor of the Fitzwilliam.

Hockney’s works are juxtaposed with the permanent collection. This is something different and needed to be really accessible to all visitors. The three curators of the show, Martin Gayford, Martin Kemp and Jane Munro have created a dialogue between David Hockney and the great Masters.

One important aspect of this show is the interrogation of techniques and the tools that were used to support the process. Camera obscura, camera lucida and perspective tools are an added layer to the narrative.

A journey of discovery

Across all outputs for the exhibition, including marketing, digital, social media and print we developed a look and feel that would capture peoples attention.

Inspired by Hockney we developed a palette of green’s as a backdrop to the installation. We needed both to ensure that the story was visible and to push and pull visitors across the Museum.

We are proud of the reviews and exposure our work has achieved and very grateful to the team at the Fitzwilliam Museum and to Sam Forster Associates for translating our design into a reality.