In a limited edition of just 9,000 books, each numbered and signed by the artist, it contains 450 prints dating back to 1953, including some never seen before, and just 15 lines of text by Hockney, who says: “A book like this shouldn’t have much text.”
It includes his 1960s depictions of swinging London, the famous Californian pool paintings, portraits, iPad drawings and East Yorkshire landscapes. There are also drawings, photo-composites, collages, stage designs and images from his innovative multi-camera video works.
Published by Taschen, the book weighs in at a mighty 35kg, and comes complete with its own specially designed stand by Apple designer Marc Newson with legs in Hockney’s favourite blue, red and yellow and an acrylic platform.
Hockney himself was involved in every stage of the book’s production, and calls it ‘an autobiography in pictures, made by a person who loves pictures and makes them’.
The book, complete with stand, will be available at the Artmarket Gallery and online at Artmarket.co.uk/davidhockney while stocks last; each signed book costs £1750.
Gallery director Robert Power says: “This is a rare opportunity to see this remarkable book, and it’s particularly fitting, given Hockney’s great love of this area, that it should be on display here during Hull’s year as the City of Culture.”