Using large-scale projection in a remarkable new space, David Hockney takes us on a personal journey through sixty years of his art.
Lightroom’s vast walls and revolutionary sound system enable us to experience the world through Hockney’s eyes.
His life-long fascination with the possibilities of new media is given vibrant expression in a show that invites us to look more closely, more truly and more joyously.
One full loop of the show is approximately 50 minutes long. You are welcome to stay for longer if you wish, unless you are attending the last slot of the day.
We sell tickets for show slots every 30 minutes. A full loop of the show is 52 minutes long, but you are welcome to stay for longer. The show is designed to be watched from any point during the loop. If you’re booked in for the last slot of the day, you will be able to watch one full loop of the show only.
David Hockney: Bigger & Closer (not smaller & further away) is shown at Lightroom in repertory with The Moonwalkers: A Journey with Tom Hanks. You can see Bigger & Closer at Lightroom each week from Sunday – Tuesday, between 10:00 and 17:30 (last slot). On Wednesdays, both Bigger & Closer and The Moonwalkers are shown at Lightroom on the same day. Catch Bigger & Closer on Wednesdays between 10:00 and 12:30 (last slot).
In a cycle of six themed chapters, with a specially composed score by Nico Muhly and a commentary by the artist himself, Hockney reveals his process to us. His voice is in our ears as we watch him experimenting with perspective, using photography as a way of ‘drawing with a camera’, capturing the passing of time in his polaroid collages and the joy of spring on his iPad, and showing us why only paint can properly convey the hugeness of the Grand Canyon. We join him on his audio-visual Wagner Drive, roaring up into the San Gabriel Mountains, and into the opera house by means of animated re-creations of his stage designs.
From LA to Yorkshire, and up to the present day in Normandy, the show is an unprecedented opportunity to spend time in the presence of one of the great popular geniuses of the art world still innovating, still creating beauty and awe.