We went to see the new David Hockney exhibit in Palm Springs. In his late eighties he has created all new works, using mostly his iPad. He is also exploring something he calls reverse perspective.
I could spend a lot of time talking about the vibrant colors. The scale. But it is the perspective that interests me the most. (Or the least, perhaps).
I was in my first year of college, in my first formal art class. The professor gave us an assignment on perspective. I went home for the weekend to see my mother. I sat at the end of her small apartment hallway. I drew what I saw.
Maybe it was because my world was just opening. A new city. A new life with books and people and wonder. Everything was changing. As I feared, as I wanted. I held up my small drawing. The boy in the back shouted, “It’s completely backwards.” Others shook their heads. Agreed. One even laughed. I was a bit shocked. It hadn’t even occurred to me. I held my breath. The teacher shushed the class. She asked me simply, quietly, in a way that sounded curious, not accusatory, “Why did you draw it that way?” I whispered, “That’s what I saw.” She smiled, and hung it on the wall.
David Hockney is quoted as saying, “To hell with the idea of a single vanishing point.” How exciting! Thrilling even! To paint without rules, simply to get closer and closer to the things I care about. I suppose that’s not just the way I want to paint, but the way I want to live.
