My motivation for this trip to NYC is to see the Hockney show at PaceWildenstein. I first became interested in Hockney when I discovered his photo collages. I had little interest in his early paintings, particularly the swimming pools, but have enjoyed reading his thinking about painting and photography.
Some of his photographs bear some similarity to the Gigapans I was playing with. In a lecture he gave in 1983, he talks about photographs being an instant in time, whereas paintings are a record of time passing.
Why is a painting based on the camera (and with one viewpoint) more interesting than a photograph taken from the same spot and enlarged – even when taken with a large plate camera? And my conclusion was this lack of time, the static quality photographs have is due to the fact that it's the same time in every area of the picture. The removal of the hand (the removal of the body) causes this. The hand moving through time reflects the eye moving through time (and life moving through time). The evidence of the hand is our time. On Photography, © David Hockney, 1983
I would love to know what he thinks of the Gigapan, which is after all, a robotic hand moving through time.
He also compares the use of one point perspective in Western art to the multiple viewpoints in Cubism and the progression of images in Chinese and Japanese art.
http://www.youtube.com/v/cIfDdW9GKmA&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0
So what, you may ask, does all this have to do with the exhibit of his paintings in New York? Thinking about Hockney I came up with his photo collages, which are making me think about my own work. I would like to do a book about the Japanese gardens I visited. I would like a way to present more of the photos I took–I never posted all of them. Just as I did with the collage I made of the photos of the 300 year old pine tree in Tokyo, I often took multiple shots of views that didn't fit into one image. How do I present them in book form?
Here are some of the images I'm playing with:
100 Books Before I Die 
PS: These are such happy pieces yet simplistic and a bit riotous at the same time. I delight in the haystacks and roads. Thanks for bringing these to my attention. 🙂 See you when we get back………have a great trip.
I the abstract expressionist, didn’t like Hockney when I first ran into him. The paintings were too simple, to lacking in content that could be explored. Finally I grew up a bit and loved the collages and photos. Now I just like all of them enjoying the freedom he gives us with his hand.
Can you reach into your work and find some way to expand the images the way Hockney does?
I hope you find a safe way into the city. It does seem snowy and slipery out there. Then again, I am heading out to see just as the edge of a storm hits out coast.