David Hockney

David Hockney died last week. We were away, and I’m finally catching up with the tributes. I learned so much from him over the years, most notably about colour, scale, landscape, ways of seeing, identity and attitude. I connected with his paintings at an early age, and discovered the true breadth of his work while at art school. I never missed a TV programme about him, and I especially love David Hockney on Photography and Other Matters—a BBC film that’s currently on YouTube. I was lucky to see several exhibitions, including the show that launched Nottingham Contemporary, and a more recent display of his playful iPad stuff at the RA. I also recall unexpectedly seeing his A Closer Grand Canyon at the Louisiana, and losing ourselves in all eight metres of it. Above all, he was a Brit to be proud of: a sensational artist, a fashion icon, proudly gay when it was still illegal, and refreshingly blunt in the way Yorkshire folk seem to relish. People would mock my accent. I’d look at their…