André Heller and David Hockney sitting at a red picnic table conversing over drinks on a blue pavilion surrounded by greenery for 1987 Luna Luna park.

David Hockney

David Hockney’s contribution to the 1987 Luna Luna park was the colorful Geometric Forest Pavilion with Music

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

André Heller, David Hockney.

David Hockney with model for the Enchanted Tree, exhibited 1987.

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.

David Hockney and his assistant.

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.

Fairground view: David Hockney, Enchanted Tree. Luna Luna, Hamburg, Germany, 1987.

Fairground view: David Hockney, Enchanted Tree. Luna Luna, Hamburg, Germany, 1987.

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.

Interior: David Hockney, Enchanted Tree. Luna Luna, Hamburg, Germany, 1987.

Interior: David Hockney, Enchanted Tree. Luna Luna, Hamburg, Germany, 1987.

Forgotten Fantasy

Los Angeles, CA
Open Until May 12 Open Until May 12

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.