David Hockney
For Luna Luna, David Hockney designed a cylindrical forest pavilion made of panels painted with multicolored, geometric trees.
Artist
David Hockney
Attraction
Enchanted Tree
Born
1937, England
Hockney is associated with Pop Art, a movement grounded in the language of commercial imagery
He is primarily a painter but has worked in photography
The landscape and architecture of the cities that Hockney has lived in—including Los Angeles, California; Yorkshire, England; and Normandy, France—have inspired many of his best-known works
David Hockney creates drawings, paintings, photographs, prints, and stage designs depicting landscapes, still lifes, domestic interiors, and figurative works. Although usually associated with Pop Art, his style and color palette have shifted dramatically over the decades. He attended art school in Bradford, Yorkshire, and the Royal College of Art in London from the 1950s to the early 1960s. Influenced by his surrounding environment, he subsequently developed a moody color palette that reflected the muted, damp, and dismal climate of Britain. After moving to Los Angeles in 1964, he embraced bright, pastel colors—cobalt blue, yellow, pink—to conjure the city’s light and warmth.
His work resists easy categorization, and although usually associated with Pop Art, his style and color palette have shifted dramatically over the decades.
In Los Angeles, Hockney created iconic works such as A Bigger Splash (1967) and Beverly Hills Housewife (1966-67), which capture the late sixties Southern California atmosphere. In the 1980s, Hockney created intricate collages that he referred to as “joiners,” using photographs taken from different perspectives. In the early 2000s, Hockney returned to his origins and began painting landscapes outdoors, or plein-air, in Yorkshire, England.
For Luna Luna, Hockney designed an enormous Enchanted Tree pavilion with painted panels of blue, red, and green abstract trees. The interior cylindrical chamber is surrounded by curved cutouts arches, similar to tree branches. Along with simple, novel lighting, a selection of waltzes by composers Johann and Josef Strauss filled the space to enhance the pavilion’s theatrical atmosphere. The pavilion design references the artist’s earlier scenic designs for Stravinsky “Triple Bill” at the New York’s Metropolitan Opera in 1981.
Forgotten Fantasy
Thirty-six years ago, Luna Luna landed in Hamburg, Germany: the world’s first art amusement park with rides, games, and attractions by visionaries like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, and David Hockney. By a twist of fate, the park’s treasures were soon sealed in 44 shipping containers and forgotten in Texas—until now.