David Hokni exhibition in Fondation Louis Vuitton: What is worth knowing about
In the Parisian Fondation Louis Vuitton (FLV) the largest of the ever collected exhibitions of David Hokni. Perhaps the last of those whose composition he disposed of himself: the 87-year-old British classic of contemporary art has gathered here four hundred works created over the past 25 years. The exhibition with the subtitle “Remember, they will not cancel the spring” open until the fall. Says Kommersant correspondent in France Alexey Tarkhanov.
The exhibition of David Hokni became famous even before the opening. Parisian authorities banned her poster. The artist on it is represented by a self -portrait “Playa Within a Play Within a Play and Me with a Cigarette” (2024–2025), on which he holds a cigarette in his hand. The authorities decided that this was able to lead the audience to a false conclusion: a smoker can survive up to 87 years, become the most expensive of the living painters, get the orders of the British Empire and gain worldwide fame. Which, of course, is completely wrong.
Hokni does not get used to the accusations that he lives incorrectly. But he lives. In his youth, he had to leave Britain, because in his works he told the truth about himself and his friends, although, of course, “information about non -traditional sexual relations and (or) preferences that causes interest in such relations and (or) preferences” did not impose on anyone. Since then, the times have changed, and the years are not the same, and the portraits of naked men at David Hokni have become rare – except that the winter trees of Normandy can excite a vigilant censor. But over 70 years of work, a caricature Briton in funny glasses and checkered suits never went out of fashion, did not quarrel with his contemporaries and causes the same curiosity as before.
He began a new life in a new place several times, changing countries and manners. Having settled in Los Angeles, he gave his works an American brilliance-the bright sunlight of pop art, reflected in his “pools”, became a classic for museums and a gold currency for auctions. Once in France, he took an example from Claude Monet, hid in a Norman village, arranged a workshop on a farm, enjoyed the scenery of the hinterland and painted paintings, reminiscent of Monet, then Van Gogh, then Russo. And now, when he moved to London (age requires to be closer to doctors) and writes pictures in his garden, he again appears to the British eccentric painter.
Still, it is useful for artists to live until the most advanced years-their experience is amazing and benevolent. We did not see the late works of Van Gogh or Modigliani, but at least hoknny is still with us. “I am almost 88, many believe that I had to die for a long time – I smoke a lot and still have not quit. But the artist cannot be judged until he finished his last work, ”he says in an interview with Suzanne Page, the FLV art director.“ For me, the perfect day is the day when I write. ” My last dream is to live to my birthday July 9th and celebrate 88 years. ”
The full house of friends – the first Fondation Louis Vuitton halls are completely hung with their portraits, made by the confident hand of a very talented and very good for the master of the master. On the huge composition “Looking at the Flowers (Framed)” (2022), the artist and his double are examined by “Portraits of Flowers” hung on the wall. Having lost many friends during the AIDS years, he visited them in hospitals not with living bouquets, but with images of tulips, roses, chrysanthemums. So on the canvas he looks not only at flowers, but also at the portraits of his dead friends.
Excitingly interesting his relationship with the history of art. The walls of one of the galleries are entirely sealed with images of fragments of classical painting and sculpture – what young creators call the swearing word “mudboard”. And then the works-options are shown in which the hokni directly enters into dialogue with his roots: Fra Angelico, Sezann and, above all, Picasso, who delights him with both unpredictability and stubborn longevity.
The artist loves the changing time and experiences all his capabilities. He wrote a book about the technique of old masters, but not in the sense of a smear, manners and colors. He discussed the optics that artists used: cameras, grids, mirrors, layouts. Hokni decided to be not stupid than his predecessors, instead of closing his canvas can, use everything that our time gave him. He worked with photos, videos, computer programs, and in the end, along with classic canvas and paints, he began to draw and write using iPad. In one of the halls, multi -meter multi -figure compositions are not built by a computer, but written with its help: hokni proves in them that the lens, the “one -eyed cyclop”, is not able to convey what reproduces the artist’s brain.
Everyone who is tired of the shyness of “immersive exhibitions” will be appreciated by the excellent work, which is shown in a special hall on three revived walls. Hokni with tenderness and humor depicted scenes from his favorite operas and revived them using 59 Productions studio animators. He loves music, although he does not hear it for a long time: “I am almost deaf, I catch the surrounding sounds a little. But the music is in my head – like Beethoven’s. ”
This is a real film, but the artist rejoices the most elementary optical effects: like the same title “Playa Within A Playa Within A Play and Me With a Cigarette”, which shows a hokni, which writes a picture in which Hokni writes a picture in which Hoknny paints a picture.
