David Hockney presented his first AI artwork - a computer-generated ode to bohemian life - at Glastonbury Festival last weekend.
In addition to the event's inaugural arts program (with guest artist Jeremy Deller), Glastonbury debuted new AI-assisted work by David Hockney on the video screens on your main stage.
Created in collaboration with the Cultural Institute of Radical Contemporary Arts (CIRCA), the digital piece is based on the painting of Hockney 2014, “The Dancers V”, part of a series on the same subject. The acrylic represents a group of vibrantly dressed dancers, holding hands in a loose ring, in its kineticism mirroring Matisse's Dance (1909-10).
“I had them walk in a circle, and slowly built it up,” the British painter said of the creative process behind the work. “Now, I walked out of the room and placed them in a landscape – on top of the world, in fact.”
Working with your iPad and using AI, Hockney removed the dancers, leaving only the sky-blue landscape. This new computer-generated piece was developed into a one-minute video titled “I LIVED IN BOHEMIA BOHEMIA IS A TOLERANT PLACE”, intended to spread the good word about harmony through bohemia - a fitting message for a work premiered at a festival born of hippie culture.
“I really can't believe we have the living legend that is David Hockney to create these wonderful paintings for our stages,” said Emily Eavis, co-organizer of the Glastonbury Festival. “We are truly honored to showcase this work for the first time.”
"David Hockney and Glastonbury is a perfect match," added Josef O'Connor, founder and artistic director of CIRCA.
Equally remarkable, “I LIVED IN BOHEMIA” records the continued forays of Hockney in new media, as part of its ongoing investigations into perspective. His latest adventure with AI follows his fax prints, iPad drawings, and the 2022 immersive experience, “Bigger and Closer (Not Smaller and Farther).”
“It’s been 100 years since perspective was last discussed, with Cubism,” said O’Connor, who also curated the piece by Hockney at Glastonbury. “I suppose now that things are being generated by computers, we have to look even more closely with completely new eyes.”
Source: Artnet News