Nottingham Contemporary opens Major David Hockney Exhibition

Written by Claire Cummings Tuesday, 27 December 2011 22:49

NOTTINGHAM, UK - A major exhibition of over 60 works by David Hockney from national and international museum collections will open Nottingham Contemporary, one of the most interesting new spaces for art in the UK. Designed by leading architects Caruso St John, the public opening is on Saturday 14 November 2009. The exhibition will re-examine Hockney's work 1960-1968, his early years in London and Los Angeles, in the context of art today. It is the first time the early work - finishing with the iconic Californian painting A Bigger Splash - has been brought together since the Whitechapel retrospective of 1970, nearly 40 years ago.

The exhibition will occupy two of Nottingham Contemporary's four galleries, a huge combined space of 750 square metres, lit by 133 skylights. "Quite simply it will be one of the best spaces for art and culture anywhere in Britain,” Tate Director Nicholas Serota was recently quoted as saying.

The exhibition is curated by Nottingham Contemporary Director, Alex Farquharson. He is known for his adventurous and popular approach. He co curated British Art Show 6 which attracted 350,000 visitors to four cities and If Everyone Had An Ocean, an exhibition inspired by Beach Boy Brian Wilson, one of the most popular exhibitions ever at Tate St Ives.

About the Hockney show, Alex Farquharson commented: "Hockney, in this period, was at the crest of a wave, not only in the artistic avantgarde, but in culture in general. It is a fascinating trajectory, from his first idiosyncratic takes on abstraction in 1960 to his unforgettable representations of southern California several years on. Allusions to this work abound in art today – in the work of Elizabeth Peyton, Jack Pierson and Frances Stark, to cite just three important examples. It feels absolutely the right time to be revisiting this work now.”

Also on show for the opening of Nottingham Contemporary will be an exhibition of new and recent work by Frances Stark, one of the most fascinating artists to have emerged from Los Angeles’s vibrant art scene in the past 15 years. This is her first solo exhibition in a British public gallery and it will travel to CCA Glasgow.

Nottingham Contemporary is being built on one of Nottingham’s most historic sites, home to the original Saxon settlement, the medieval Town Hall, and the Victorian railway that scythed through the city.

Nottingham Contemporary was designed by the award winning architects Caruso St John. They were inspired by the surrounding Lace Market, specifically the bold, elegant design of the warehouses that serviced the city’s world famous trade in the 19^th century. Former warehouses in other cities have proved flexible and creative spaces for artists’ activities, as in 60s New York or 90s Berlin. Its unusual form is the outcome of building right to the edge of the irregular site (as a consequence, there is just one perfectly rectangular room in the building). Our building has been constructed from scratch on what is said to be the oldest site in the city, home to a Saxon fort, a medieval Town Hall, and finally a late Victorian railway cutting. The steps at the side of the building have recreated a historic right of way.

At 3,000 square metres, Nottingham Contemporary is one of the largest contemporary art centres in the UK. It has four galleries - lit by 132 skylights – a performance and film Space, a Learning room, The Study, The Shop and Café.Bar.Contemporary. The building appears larger on the inside than outside, since much of its north end is sunk into the sandstone cliff that runs the length of the city centre. At the same time the building is unusually transparent: large windows offer direct views from the street into the galleries, shop, café and offices.  Visit : http://www.nottinghamcontemporary.org/

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