The Arrival Of Spring In Woldgate East Yorkshire 16th May 2011
Signed Print

After spending around four decades in California, Hockney returned to his native Yorkshire in the late 2000s. Here he began paying attention to the landscapes that surrounded him, the tree lined roads, the light filled woods and the rolling fields. In The Arrival Of Spring In Woldgate East Yorkshire 16th May 2011 we see him towards the end of his project to document this as part of the series entitled The Arrival of Spring, which starts on 1 January and ends in early June of 2011, and much of the blossom is already out. The vegetation which was once sparse and melancholy in winter has come back to life, and the trees and shrubs, flowers and hedges are once again crowding together to greet the viewer with a fanfare of natural beauty. A road or track strikes a path through the centre of the composition, providing both a vanishing point and a reminder of man’s imposition on this scene. As viewers we are faced with a route, embodying the artist’s viewpoint to consider ourselves in the scene. Hockney first began using an iPad in 2010 when he took the device to Yosemite in California. Here we see him using it to produce quick drawings of his more immediate surroundings which could then be printed as inkjet editions.