Meaning & Analysis

Focus Moving is a photographic drawing printed on two sheets of paper by British artist, David Hockney. Created in 2018, this signed artwork was released in an edition size of 25. The work, abstract in its nature, depicts seven robust table trolleys and three wooden stools laid out across an industrial room in an unruly manner. Each trolley is built of three platforms, a yellow one placed on top, blue one at the bottom and red in the middle. Three-dimensional numbers were placed on the stools and the top surface of each trolley. A small scale-drawing is hung on the beige wall, providing a visual representation of the spatial arrangement of the floor. By numbering each object in the room, Hockney establishes a dialogue with the small-scale drawing, making the viewer’s experience of space multilayered and complex.

Like so often in his paintings and prints, Hockney does not follow conventional rules of perspective, seeking a more dynamic way of seeing. The unusually conceived space embodies a sense of motion as the viewer’s gaze travels across the image in an attempt to follow the numbers and connect each object with its small-scale representation. The artist commented in this context: “What does the world really look like? I know it doesn’t look like photographs. The camera sees geometrically, and we must see psychologically. So what does it really look like? I think you have to draw it.”