The Yosemite Suite 21
Signed Print

Planes of green converge to form hills covered in scribbled vegetation. A body of water sits at the bottom of the composition, which is framed by the recognisable silhouettes of fir trees. We are looking down at a great valley, one of Hockney’s favourite perspectives which he depicted in landscapes as varied as those based on the Rhein valley in Germany for his Illustrations For Six Fairy Tales From The Brothers Grimm as well as his later paintings of the Yorkshire Wolds. The work is unapologetically digital, its lines seeming rushed and gestural, reflecting the quick and spontaneous nature of the iPad drawing tools which Hockney used to produce it. Gone is the elaborate preparation of the etching plate or the exposure of a screen, which he previously would have required assistance with. Now Hockney, an artist who has always sought agency in his printmaking process – an approach which resulted in him subverting the traditional use of an office photocopier – was able to paint and draw en plein air and to turn his artworks into prints at the click of a button. Dating to 2010, the same year Apple released the first iPad, The Yosemite Suite, of which The Yosemite Suite 21 is part, marks Hockney’s first – but not last – foray into digital prints of this kind.