ARTE Distribution

The general public still associate David Hockney, the legendary artist of the Seventies, with the blue of his Californian swimming pools, with Los Angeles boys, Andy Warhol or with the cult film "A Bigger Splash".

Filmed in Autumn 1998 in Los Angeles, in his house, this film sheds new light on David Hockney's current work and will be the chance to rediscover an artist who expresses his talents in spheres as diverse as painting, photography, etching and opera design, an artist whose fame has never stopped growing.

In his studio we are present with him during the production of the works which he considers to be the crowning achievement of his research into the connection between space and landscape : his representations of the Grand Canyon. Two monumental works consisting of 60 juxtaposed canvases.
By means of successive brush strockes, the film throws light on how an artist proceeds and is able to develop a work which is both intimate and spectacular, taking inspiration from his immediate environment : landscape, but also close friends, family and familiar objects, witnesses of passing time?

He allows us to share his concerns over the connection between painting and photography, time and memory. He tells us how his work on opera has influenced his comprehension of space, he takes us along with him on his "musical drives", cruising through the Californian landscape, which he enjoys doing whilst listening to Parsifal: in a car one is at the centre of things and when one moves through the landscape, one becomes a centre that moves.