Caribbean Tea Time

This signed print by venerated British artist, David Hockney, was issued in an edition of 36 in 1987. It constitutes what appears to be a depiction of a courtyard space, at the threshold between the exterior world – represented by organic forms and the flow  Comprising silkscreen and lithograph screen printing techniques, this original piece of work makes use of mixed media, including cut and pasted printed paper, acrylic paint, and polystyrene, all of which is assembled onto a traditional paravent – or room-dividing screen. When looking at Caribbean Tea Time Paravent, 1987 we achieve a sense of the enduring influence that the work of Spanish artist and key proponent of the Cubist movement, Pablo Picasso, has had upon Hockney’s œuvre. As in the case of Hockney’s 1973 etching The Student, in which the artist depicts himself standing next to a bust of Picasso, placing the Spanish artist quite literally on a pedestal, this print is sure to credit its Cubist roots. Breaking down traditional linear perspective, this print also echoes Hockney’s Photo Collages – a series which saw Hockney make extended use of the camera as a means to depict a variety of different views of a given subject and a sense of the time it took to make the image.