Dandelions
Dandelions
Signed Print
David Hockney
POA
This estimate blends recent public auction records with our own private sale data and network demand.
Digital Print, 2011
Signed Print Edition of 25
Critical Review
Dandelions (2011) by David Hockney is an iPad drawing printed on paper, depicting a bouquet of flowers placed in a half-filled water glass. The artist discovered the iPad as a drawing tool when it was first released in 2010. His artistic output inspired by the medium has been prolific ever since, including 212 digital paintings produced in 2018.
Hockney’s signature use of a sharp black contour is abandoned here as he seeks to endow the image with a sense of softness. Blades of grass intertwined with the flowers lack a rigid contour and, thus, seem to dissolve playfully against the dark background. The flower petals appear sketched in gentle ink strokes and, thanks to Hockney’s delicate use of colour, attune smoothly to the green background. The series of digital flower paintings follows Hockney’s long-standing experimentations with traditional methods of painting, printmaking, and photocopying. As such, it demonstrates how the artist continues to prove his versatility after five decades of artistic career. Having discovered the iPad, Hockney used to email a new painting of flowers every morning to acquaintances, often a bouquet in a vase similar to that depicted in Dandelions. He said in this context: “I draw flowers every day and send them to friends, so they get fresh flowers every morning. And my flowers last!”
