David Hockney has always been a dab hand on his iPad, creating a plethora of landscapes which capture the arrival of spring at the artist’s idyllic home in Normandy, northern France. In a revealing interview in the Guardian, the octogenarian artist spills the beans to critic Jonathan Jones, stressing that “smoking is why he lives in France: what he sees as a basic freedom is now restricted in Britain and the US”. Hockney points out that he likes Davidoff cigarettes. “I get them sent by Hans in Germany. He sends me 20 cartons at a time—2,000 cigarettes—and I keep them in drawers.”
But the juiciest nugget from the tête-à-tête is Hockney’s penchant for the hottest pop star on the planet. Jones spots a picture of Harry Styles on the artist’s iPad who was “a new challenge, since he prefers to paint friends”, the critic says. “I think if you know a face—you have to know a face a bit—I don’t know his face that well. Everybody’s face is a bit different,” Hockney says, wistfully. The exhibition Hockney’s Eye: The Art and Technology of Deception (until 29 August) is currently running at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.
