David Hockney, the 85-year-old Yorkshire artist, is one of the biggest names in the art world – and also one of the most expensive living artists. Throughout his 60-year-long career, Hockney has experimented with a variety of styles, influenced first by Pop Art and Abstract Expressionism, then by Color Field painting as well as by singular artists such as Picasso and Matisse.
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Throughout Hockney's career, the portraits he drew of those closest to him chart the trajectory of his practice, from quick sketches to large portraiture, color field prints and cubist ensembles – as is evident in Hockney’s more than 40 portraits of Gregory Evans.
Hockney and Evans met in London thanks to art dealer Nicholas Wilder. In 1974, the two began an intimate relationship in Paris, where they both lived at the time. Over ten years, David Hockney and Gregory Evans worked together, Gregory transitioning from lover and studio assistant to curator and trusted adviser. In an interview with The Guardian in May 2015, when asked about who the love of his life was, the artist replied "maybe Gregory."
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Though their romantic relationship ended in the 70s, the two have remained close friends, and Gregory has sat as a model for Hockney’s portraits numerous times. He has also curated many of his exhibitions, the most recent one in 2014.
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Gregory’s features appear on Hockney’s canvases as early as 1976, in a period when the artist was focusing on line drawings. In the 1980s, as he was exploring photography and Asian art, Gregory turns up in collages of chromogenic prints, as well as in larger color-field style prints in the manner of Mark Rothko. In the late 80s, as Hockney’s references to Picasso became more explicit, Gregory’s figure appears fragmented in cubist-style picture frames.
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Most recently, a portrait of Gregory Evans was included in the David Hockney RA: 82 Portraits and 1 Still-life exhibition at the Royal Academy, which took place in 2016. For the exhibition, Hockney created portraits of his friends, family and acquaintances – each work exactly the same size, with his sitter in the same chair, against the same vivid blue background. For the show, Hockney also painted famed gallerists John Baldessari and Larry Gagosian.