Saltaire (5th Feb). I discovered an amazing ceramic cat by David Hockney in the Salt Mill gallery. It’s sketched here (with the aid of some technology) but just look at the expression on this little cat face! The eyebrows are so expressive and that tail is a fabulous thing in its own right. Anyone who owns a cat will recognise the happy just-about-to-be-fed nature of that vertical tail. I must remember this cat if I try out some sculptural forms in clay or glass – never mind getting the proportions right, just capture something essential about the object/creature itself.
I didn’t know that Hockney had experimented with ceramics, but whilst there I also came across this amazing (and absolutely huge) chair – where the proportions are all wrong. Apparently Hockney experimented with perspective to see if he was able to bring his viewer into the picture – to become more, not less involved in the art itself. So instead of the objects shrinking into the distance, he expanded the more distant points – to create the feeling that you’re part of the scene. I loved it (not just with the odd-shaped chair, but the way this strange perspective was executed in his paintings too). Again – lesson to self – rewriting the rules can’t be such a bad thing.
