Los Angeles Modern Auctions (LAMA)

When David Hockney returned to Los Angeles from East Yorkshire in 2013, he quickly dedicated himself to a new body of work that would merge two of his greatest fascinations: the intricacies of perspective and evolving imaging technologies. Described by the artist as “photographic drawings” and constructed from hundreds of images, the resulting series pays homage to Paul Cézanne’s Card Players in a manner only Hockney could achieve. The works are at once fantastical and hyper-realist, historically informed and completely disruptive to the visual precedent of privileging a single vanishing point. This work, The Scrabble Players, depicts the artist’s friends at play and self-alludes to earlier works, showcasing Hockney’s innovative approach.

“Digital photography can free us from a chemically imposed perspective that has lasted for 180 years,” Hockney said of his embrace of the relatively recent medium. And while The Scrabble Players makes use of new technology, it can be considered an extension of Hockney’s practice both in terms of subject matter and creation — his 1983 collage The Scrabble Game January 1, 1983 similarly shows the artist’s friends (and a cat) mid-Scrabble round. As with The Scrabble Players, this work is a composite of layered photographs which Hockney has referred to as a “joiner.” Both works deliberately destabilize the notion that a single viewpoint can truly encapsulate a moment in time.

“What has been absorbing [Hockney] since he was a student in Bradford is this conundrum which preoccupies all painters,” Andrew Wilson, Tate Modern Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, observed, “How do you represent the world of three or four dimensions, plus emotion, in two dimensions? This is the bedrock of his work.” Indeed, Hockney’s firm location in the realm between painting and photography has been critical to his status as beloved icon. Another early Hockney composite, the landscape montage Pearblossom Hwy., 11-18th April, 1986 #2, has been crowned “the most popular image at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.” In a winking gesture, Hockney even placed Pearblossom Hwy. within the composition of this work’s fellow “photographic drawing,” A bigger card players (2015).

In addition to tireless exploration of new techniques, Hockney has defined himself through a refusal to alienate viewers. As Wilson put it, the artist’s eye “involves a real generosity towards the viewer,” adding that Hockney “wants people to be engaged with his work. He wants their eyes and feelings to be drawn to it.” In the case of The Scrabble Players, the invitation is expressed quite literally: the Scrabble board and its players place the viewer as vanishing point–the alpha and omega of the game. What could be more inviting than that?