David Hockney original posters at Telluride Gallery of Fine Art

25 Feb David Hockney original posters at Telluride Gallery of Fine Art

kicker: Show by artist who celebrated his homosexuality up for Gay Ski Week

A show of the poster art of David Hockney opens at the Telluride Gallery of Fine Art this weekend and runs through Gay Ski Week. The exhibition features about 20 – 25 images, many of which are out of print.

Telluride Gallery of Fine Art opened for business 25 years ago in the tied-dyed era of hippies and miners, just as development of the new ski resort was kicking in. Owner Will Thompson arrived on the scene with years of experience in the art market.

In the early 1970s, Will represented a New York-based company, whose stable included original Hockney lithographs. Another London-based company, Petersburg Press, became the source of the poster art in the show.

In the early 1960s, David Hockey was largely responsible for the breakthrough of English Pop Art. His special touch, his marks became all about introducing the ironic narrative into art. Hockney's early drawings and prints, in particular, relied on elements of satire, banal illustration, even children's drawings to produce works distinguished by a sardonic, proverbially English humor. Later efforts showed a carefully premeditated and aesthetically savvy composition style that remained unfailingly good.

David Hockney was not the first English artist to reveal his homosexuality in his work, but he was the very first to shout his tastes from the rooftops, treating those appetites as the most natural thing in the world, in contrast, say, to Francis Bacon whose contorted and maimed figures showed only the dark side of that street.

Hockney tried his hand in a number of mediums, including photography and theatre. And succeeded in everything he touched. Bottom line: No English artist has ever been so popular in his lifetime as David Hockney.