In this new exhibition, DAVID HOCKNEY: BIGGER & CLOSER (not smaller & further away), Lightroom’s vast walls and revolutionary sound system enable us to experience the world through Hockney’s eyes.
In a cycle of six themed chapters that include iconic and rarely seen and new pieces, Hockney opens up his process to us, inviting us into his work.
Hockney’s lifelong fascination with the possibilities of new media is given vibrant expression in a show that invites us to look more closely, truly and joyously.
Along with a specially commissioned score by Nico Muhly, Hockney’s voice is in our ears as we watch him experimenting with perspective, using photography to ‘draw with the camera’ capturing the passing of time in polaroids, recording the joy of spring on his iPad, and demonstrating why only paint can properly convey the hugeness of the Grand Canyon.
We join him on his audio-visual work The Wagner Drive, roaring up into the Santa Monica mountains, and we are taken into the world of theatre for animated re-creations of his opera designs.
The show is an unprecedented opportunity to be in the presence of one of the great popular geniuses of our time as he takes us through 60 years of his work, from Los Angeles to Yorkshire and up to the present day in Normandy.
‘David Hockney: BiGGER & CLOSER not smaller & further away‘ is the inaugural show at Lightroom’s new premises in King’s Cross – an extraordinary four-storey space in King’s Cross equipped with the latest digital projection and audio technology.
It will be the first in a repertoire of original shows, made with leading artists and innovators, aspiring to be visually astonishing, alive with sound and rich in new perspectives.
Lightroom is located in King’s Cross on Lewis Cubitt Square, adjacent to Coal Drops Yard and Central St Martin’s. It was designed by Haworth Tompkins as a sister space to the award-winning Bridge Theatre in SE1. The generous foyer will contain a café/bar run in collaboration with St John, a gift shop and seating in the foyer and outside on the square. The venue will be open seven days a week throughout the day and on most evenings.