'Ken is such a good printer. Its terrific getting into complicated lithography again. There’s no one in London who can print like him. Every little thing put on a stone really appears' —David Hockney
Following their first collaboration on The Hollywood Collection in 1965, David Hockney continued to work with the master printmaker Ken Tyler for almost forty years. Famous for the emphasis he placed on the importance of technique, artists such as Josef Albers, Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg flocked to work with Tyler at his atelier on Melrose Avenue, Gemini G.E.L. In 1973, Hockney was planning to create a new series of prints focusing on the weather. Keen to capture the highly stylised, atmospheric weather effects preeminent in Japanese art, Hockney once again turned to Tyler. At Gemini, Hockney produced his Weather Series – six prints which beautifully encompass the duos sensitivity to the material sympathies between technique and subject matter. The same year, Hockney immortalised Tyler as The Master Printer of Los Angeles (1973). The print features Tyler – sporting his tinted glasses and iconic moustache - seated in front of Rain, a print from their recent collaboration on the Weather Series. Clearly elated with what they had created together, Hockney’s lithograph demonstrates his appreciation for Tyler.
Hockney’s tribute does share its title with one other work – a unique print featuring an office photocopier created over a decade after his portrait of Tyler. In 1986, Hockney was experimenting with a copier and realised that it could be used to replicate the traditional process of colour printmaking, without requiring an expert printmaker to assist with the complex method of accurately layering each colour. This revelation marked the commencement of Hockney’s ‘Home Made Prints’ series, and the whimsical promotion of his Canon photocopier to the role of The Master Printer of Los Angeles (1986). Featuring a dedication to his friend, the art publisher Nikos Stangos, Hockney was clearly pleased with his invention, and he continued to produce home-made prints throughout the late 1980s. He even began to fax works to friends, in celebration of yet another advancement in technology. While these developments were supplementary to Hockney’s creative practice, they never diminished the importance of Ken Tyler. Tyler had moved to New York in the mid-1970s, and Hockney travelled to print at his new workshops, Tyler Workshop Ltd. and Tyler Graphics Ltd. until the print maker retired in 2000. However, in his absence, the title of The Master Printer of Los Angeles was claimed by Hockney’s Canon, which provided the artist with the spontaneity to produce prints independently.
文學
Gemini G.E.L. 451 Scottish Arts Council 149 Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo 139
David Hockney (b. 1937) is one of the most well-known and celebrated artists of the
20th and 21st centuries. He works across many mediums, including painting, collage,
and more recently digitally, by creating print series on iPads. His works show semi-
abstract representations of domestic life, human relationships, floral, fauna, and the
changing of seasons.
Hockney has exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Royal
Academy of Arts in London, and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, among many
other institutions. On the secondary market, his work has sold for more than $90
million.