Retrospect

Read an article on David Hockney and his largest retrospective ever this morning in the Times (link).  It is a flattering portrait, of course, in which they compare him to Picasso.  Strange comparison, I think, unless they were measuring the wealth of the artist.  Hockney travels with his own medical team.  Now THAT'S art.  Imagine how much Hockney must be worth.  I like Hockney's work and would say I liked Hockney if I knew him, I suspect, at least from what I've garnered from the seemingly endless interviews over the years that are available on YouTube.  I watch them and think, "What's not to like?"  He's smart, at least about art, and has a good deal of talent.  I'd imagine Picasso to have much more which is why other artists feared to criticize him.  He was able to do what they did, only better.  Picasso did have someone with whom he could compete, however--Matisse.  They worked in opposite ways and fought over who would be Champion of the World.  They remained friends, though, in spite of this.  Line vs. Color.  I have seen major exhibits of each, but I missed the Picasso/Matisse exhibition of the two in NYC some years ago.  Q had bought me a ticket, but I couldn't make it.  My legs went weak and I had to sit several times when I viewed the individual shows.  I don't know if I would have survived the combined exhibit.  

I have seen Hockney's work without the same reaction.  I do not think he has his own version of Matisse to battle.  But I like Hockney's work as much as any contemporary artist's.  In small ways and large, he varied his work over time incorporating different forms and methods and mediums.  For many years now, he, like the aging Picasso, lives by and large in his studio working through his remaining days.  

They are polar opposites, I think, Picasso and Hockney, in both their art and sensibility.  The Faun and the Fawn, I suppose.  

But to have a large estate and a tremendous studio and the money to have live in doctors--now THAT'S something.  

I could use a live-in doctor today.  I have come down with some malaise that has put me on the couch.  I had to decline an invitation out by Tennessee and am going to miss a night out with the BBC tonight.  They will end up at a b-day celebration for my young waitress friend.  I'm afraid I'll have to miss that one.  

I hope to muster up enough energy, though, to do my taxes.  

Death and taxes, don't you know .