Portrait of David Hockney in the Hollywood Spanish interior

Tate Gallery, London, the UK.

Canvas, acrylic paint, graphite, ink.

The artist made the portrait of his longtime friend and colleague David Hockney, who by that time was a popular figure in the art world, of photographs. The picture was taken by famous photographer Michael Cooper – he photographed the fair-haired artist in his recognizable glasses with a massive horn-rimmed frame. Apart from Hockney, Blake depicted the plot of another picture by Cooper, in which a young man in short shorts is standing on the stairs. The combination of several different images turns the picture into a kind of collage, while it is painted using mixed media – paints and ink. Balloons hanging from the ceiling emphasize the festive and carefree mood inherent in glossy magazines.