12/06/07, Arifa Akbar, Hockney fumes at the 'dreary people' threatening his beloved habit
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In the background: some of the finest examples of JMW Turner watercolours ever assembled in the UK; delicate works of drama, beauty, subtlety. In the foreground: David Hockney.
And an irascible Hockney was not content to talk just about the paintings. At the Tate Britain's Clore Gallery, surrounded by the great and good of the art world, he launched a blistering attack on the impending smoking ban, the youth of today and the decline of strident national protests.
Hockney, 69, had arrived from his East Yorkshire home to launch the largest ever survey of Turner's watercolours, Hockney on Turner Watercolours, which he had helped to curate. But while art historians were busy drawing scholarly parallels between the modern painter's preoccupation with watercolour and Turner's mastery of the medium, Hockney flagged up another similarity between himself and the artist he so admires.
"I might point out Turner smoked," he declared, adding it was a fairly common habit among great artists. "Monet smoked, and he died at 86. Picasso and Matisse smoked, and lived to a ripe old age. They didn't have dreary people telling them what to do."
Hockney, who is regarded by many as the Britain's finest living artist, then launched a broadside at the smoking ban which comes into force in England on 1 July. "I shall just carry on. It won't make any difference to me.
"I am appalled at it actually - they are treating us like children. I'm not a schoolboy. [Gordon] Brown thinks he's a prefect and I can't smoke behind the cricket pavilion.
"You will have lots and lots of people smoking in the street. And then they will start complaining again, that small group. It's not just smoking. People should start standing up for themselves. Where has the awkward squad gone? Where are the Arthur Scargills?"
The artist, who divides his time between Los Angeles and East Yorkshire, added: "I work outside so it won't affect me - unless they start putting non-smoking signs on trees."
He also had a few words to say about the younger generation's waning interest in the visual arts. "To me, the tragedy was giving up teaching drawing, because teaching drawing is teaching you to look.
"We are not in a very visual age. It's all about sound. People plug in their ears and don't look much, whereas for me my eyes are the biggest pleasure. You notice that on buses. People don't look out of the window, they are plugged in and listening to something," he said.
After his surprising soapbox stand in the hallowed halls of the Clore Gallery, he offered some reflections on the exhibition itself, which features 165 watercolours including Turner's masterpiece The Blue Rigi.
The show, which is open to the public until next February, spans six rooms, with Hockney's curatorial input on display in the central hall. He selected works for the room entitled "Beginnings", in which Turner experimented with colour and light. Of his chosen works, he said they were "stunningly beautiful" and he was delighted to have taken a curatorial role.
"The pictures I have chosen come direct from the heart," said Hockney. "They are stunningly beautiful and very fresh because you can see how he has made them. You can see his arm moving, his eye looking, his heart feeling."
The gallery has also hung five large oil paintings by Hockney which reflect his recent preoccupation with the rural landscape of his youth. The artist said he would celebrate his 70th birthday next month by producing more of his large canvases. "I've got big plans. I don't feel 70, to be honest. Once you start to make big plans you have a lot more energy - even if you smoke."
A sensual selection of watercolours
Hockney on Turner Watercolours is the largest display of JMW Turner's watercolour masterpieces to be staged at Tate Britain. Around 165 watercolours from the world's greatest collections are shown in six rooms, including The Blue Rigi, pictured right, bought in April. The painting, which was Turner's first attempt at recording the moment before dawn on the Rigi mountain in Switzerland, was saved from being exported following a public outcry. Other paintings include rural landscapes of British locations such as Wales, Yorkshire, Edinburgh, and European views. At the heart of the show, Hockney presents his own selection of Turner's colour studies in the central room, called "Beginnings", with his own commentary on the processes by which the artist constructed his perspectives of colour and light. Stephen Deuchar, director of Tate Britain, said Hockney had been approached to curate for his "artist's eye" and his input reflected a "sensuality" that was refreshing to see in a gallery display.
And an irascible Hockney was not content to talk just about the paintings. At the Tate Britain's Clore Gallery, surrounded by the great and good of the art world, he launched a blistering attack on the impending smoking ban, the youth of today and the decline of strident national protests.
Hockney, 69, had arrived from his East Yorkshire home to launch the largest ever survey of Turner's watercolours, Hockney on Turner Watercolours, which he had helped to curate. But while art historians were busy drawing scholarly parallels between the modern painter's preoccupation with watercolour and Turner's mastery of the medium, Hockney flagged up another similarity between himself and the artist he so admires.
"I might point out Turner smoked," he declared, adding it was a fairly common habit among great artists. "Monet smoked, and he died at 86. Picasso and Matisse smoked, and lived to a ripe old age. They didn't have dreary people telling them what to do."
Hockney, who is regarded by many as the Britain's finest living artist, then launched a broadside at the smoking ban which comes into force in England on 1 July. "I shall just carry on. It won't make any difference to me.
"I am appalled at it actually - they are treating us like children. I'm not a schoolboy. [Gordon] Brown thinks he's a prefect and I can't smoke behind the cricket pavilion.
"You will have lots and lots of people smoking in the street. And then they will start complaining again, that small group. It's not just smoking. People should start standing up for themselves. Where has the awkward squad gone? Where are the Arthur Scargills?"
The artist, who divides his time between Los Angeles and East Yorkshire, added: "I work outside so it won't affect me - unless they start putting non-smoking signs on trees."
He also had a few words to say about the younger generation's waning interest in the visual arts. "To me, the tragedy was giving up teaching drawing, because teaching drawing is teaching you to look.
"We are not in a very visual age. It's all about sound. People plug in their ears and don't look much, whereas for me my eyes are the biggest pleasure. You notice that on buses. People don't look out of the window, they are plugged in and listening to something," he said.
After his surprising soapbox stand in the hallowed halls of the Clore Gallery, he offered some reflections on the exhibition itself, which features 165 watercolours including Turner's masterpiece The Blue Rigi.
The show, which is open to the public until next February, spans six rooms, with Hockney's curatorial input on display in the central hall. He selected works for the room entitled "Beginnings", in which Turner experimented with colour and light. Of his chosen works, he said they were "stunningly beautiful" and he was delighted to have taken a curatorial role.
"The pictures I have chosen come direct from the heart," said Hockney. "They are stunningly beautiful and very fresh because you can see how he has made them. You can see his arm moving, his eye looking, his heart feeling."
The gallery has also hung five large oil paintings by Hockney which reflect his recent preoccupation with the rural landscape of his youth. The artist said he would celebrate his 70th birthday next month by producing more of his large canvases. "I've got big plans. I don't feel 70, to be honest. Once you start to make big plans you have a lot more energy - even if you smoke."
A sensual selection of watercolours
Hockney on Turner Watercolours is the largest display of JMW Turner's watercolour masterpieces to be staged at Tate Britain. Around 165 watercolours from the world's greatest collections are shown in six rooms, including The Blue Rigi, pictured right, bought in April. The painting, which was Turner's first attempt at recording the moment before dawn on the Rigi mountain in Switzerland, was saved from being exported following a public outcry. Other paintings include rural landscapes of British locations such as Wales, Yorkshire, Edinburgh, and European views. At the heart of the show, Hockney presents his own selection of Turner's colour studies in the central room, called "Beginnings", with his own commentary on the processes by which the artist constructed his perspectives of colour and light. Stephen Deuchar, director of Tate Britain, said Hockney had been approached to curate for his "artist's eye" and his input reflected a "sensuality" that was refreshing to see in a gallery display.
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