David Hockney’s Remember You Cannot Look At The Sun Or Death For Very Long,
(Picture: David Hockney)David Hockney said he hopes his latest art work will encourage people to see the world’s “beauty” when it goes on show in Piccadilly Circus,
The video, called Remember You Cannot Look At The Sun Or Death For Very Long, will appear on the Piccadilly Lights screen next month.
The work, created by Hockney on his iPad, shows an animated sunrise and will also be shown on screens in New York, Los Angeles, Seoul and Tokyo.
Hockney, 83, said: “What does the world look like? We have to take time to see its beauty. That’s what I hope my work will encourage people to do when they see it on the large screens.”
The film will be unveiled on May 1 and will be shown every evening throughout the month at the same time.
The acclaimed painter, whose work regularly sells at auction for vast sums, has spent lockdown in Normandy, France, painting the arrival of spring and a show opening at the Royal Academy on May 23 will capture the season with 116 of his iPad prints.
He recently told The Andrew Marr Show that he was surrounded by “hawthorn blossom … apple blossom, pear blossom, plum blossom, cherry blossom (and) apricot blossom.”
He told the BBC One show: “I’m working away now because I’m 83. How much longer do I have? I don’t know.
“I’m still a smoker but working is very good for me. It gives me a new lease of life. I’ve got a new lease of life here. I’m just going to go on working here… (there is) always something to do.”
Hockney also offered a tip for anyone feeling “bored” and “trapped” in lockdown.
“If you’re bored because of the lockdown and you’re trapped in some small place, then if you look at the world, and really look at it, it’s very beautiful,” he said.
“It’s a mad world really but it’s very beautiful to look at. Nature is always beautiful, it’s always harmonious.”
His painting, Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) sold three years ago for just over £70 million - an auction record for a work by a living artist.
