380 Quotes by David Hockney

People from the village come up and tease me: ‘We hear you’ve started drawing on your telephone.’ And I tell them, ‘Well, no, actually, it’s just that occasionally I speak on my sketch pad,’

The moment you cheat for the sake of beauty, you know you’re an artist.

The picture itself is a document. How do you mean? We’re looking at a document. It gives you clues.

Shadows sometimes people don’t see shadows. The Chinese of course never paint them in pictures, oriental art never deals with shadow. But I noticed these shadows and I knew it meant it was sunny.

I never talk when I’m drawing a person, especially if I’m making line drawings. I prefer there to be no noise at all so I can concentrate more.

I’ve always said that the only thing a photograph is good at capturing faithfully is another flat surface.

Photography sees surfaces, it doesn’t see space. We see space but the camera doesn’t.

In the end nobody knows how it’s done – how art is made. It can’t be explained. Optical devices are just tools. Understanding a tool doesn’t explain the magic of creation. Nothing can.

Because I’m interested in depiction, representation, therefore you’re interested in photography. You don’t ignore it.