[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-26-at-08.15.01.png?w=988″]<\/p>\n
\n\tAt the ripe old age of 88, David Hockney has sounded a warning to the art world: \u201cThere\u2019s much too much abstract painting being done now.\u201d <\/p>\n
\n\tHe was recently speaking to the Times<\/em> from his Kensington studio while recovering from an infection, and he was discussing his latest exhibition, \u201cA Year in Normandie and Some Other Thoughts About Painting\u201d at the Serpentine, which he was unable to attend in person.<\/p>\n \n\tThe show runs through August 23 and stretches nearly 300 feet, presenting a sweeping frieze of iPad drawings depicting the gardens of his Normandy home across all four seasons. Hockney\u2019s work emphasizes observation and representation, a deliberate counterpoint to the abstraction dominating contemporary art. \u201cPhotography can\u2019t replace painting at all, but painting has to be of something,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \n\tIn addition to the landscape sequence, the exhibition includes portraits and still lifes set on reverse-perspective checkered tablecloths. These works reference abstract painters such as Mark Rothko and Gerhard Richter yet remain grounded in figurative representation. Hockney has experimented with a new stippling technique, layering paint even when wet, influenced by his iPad work. \u201cThese marks are a bit different,\u201d he said, reflecting his ongoing desire to innovate without abandoning subject matter.<\/p>\n The Serpentine show also harks to the Bayeux Tapestry, which is soon due in London for a blockbuster show at the British Museum. Hockney, a fan of the work, has blasted its transport from France to the UK as \u201cmadness.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe artist has long admired Picasso, particularly the late-life embrace of figurative imagery. He draws a parallel between their careers, noting that both continued ambitious, representational work even when abstraction dominated the art world. \u201cEven at the time of my lecture in 1984, nobody wanted to hear about it then, because abstraction reigned,\u201d Hockney said.<\/p>\n \n\tThe exhibition\u2019s dialogue with the Bayeux Tapestry may be one of scale but it is also meant as a juxtaposition. While the tapestry recounts war and conquest, Hockney\u2019s Normandy series celebrates nature, color, and the quiet rhythms of life, deliberately avoiding human conflict. \u201cThere is no war or death in my picture,\u201d he told the Times<\/em>, echoing his oft-repeated words: \u201cRemember, they can\u2019t cancel the spring.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/news\/david-hockney-abstract-art-serpentine-galleries-1234778992\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-26-at-08.15.01.png?w=988″] At the ripe old age of 88, David Hockney has sounded a warning to the art world: \u201cThere\u2019s much too much abstract painting being done now.\u201d He was recently speaking to the Times from his Kensington studio while recovering from an infection, and he was discussing his latest exhibition, \u201cA Year in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-1849350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1849350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1849350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1849350\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1849350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1849350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1849350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}