David Hockney

"In the Studio, December 2017" is a panoramic color photographic image created by David Hockney. It features the artist standing in his studio located in the Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles. The walls are adorned with paintings he had completed over the previous nine months, and various paintings and drawings lean against the walls. Easels hold additional paintings at the right edge, and a third painting stands proudly on another easel.

The viewpoint of the photograph is from a high vantage point, looking down into the studio. However, the image's structure doesn't conform to conventional one-point perspective found in typical photographs. Instead, it presents a dynamic and shifting focus around each object in the studio.

Hockney achieved this effect by digitally stitching together over 3,000 photographs of the studio setup. The process allowed him to create a three-dimensional approximation of the space, where the viewer could virtually navigate, tilting and rebalancing the surroundings. The technique reflects Hockney's ongoing exploration of movement, multiple perspectives, and shifting focus in his artwork.

The painting is a culmination of Hockney's artistic journey, starting from his experimentation with photographic collages in the 1980s to his more recent work using paint and digital technology. It reflects his belief that the eye is always moving and that paintings should capture the multiple perspectives experienced in real life.

"In the Studio, December 2017" captures the developments in Hockney's art after his solo exhibition at Tate Britain in 2017. The photographic drawing serves as both a portrayal of a large body of work before exhibition and a self-referential subject. The studio, a place of artistic creation, becomes a motif representing Hockney's ambition to depict how we see and respond to the world around us.

This work connects Hockney with art historical predecessors like Matisse's "The Red Studio" and Courbet's "The Painter's Studio," where the studio is a central theme and represents the artist's reflections on art and life. In essence, "In the Studio, December 2017" encapsulates Hockney's artistic evolution and his exploration of space, perspective, and movement through the medium of photography and painting.