Thursday, March 29, 2012

NEVER HEARD OF HIM ! (Sorry no pictures)

Jenny Freckles (click on her name for the link to her blog) has posted a blog about David Hockney and his art exhibition in London.  He is a somewhat controversial artist.  Many who know art much better than I call him a pop artist.   But I like a lot of his work – not all of it, but especially the scenes of Yorkshire.  I had never heard of him until about twelve years ago when I came across him almost by accident.

Even though it happened only about twelve years ago, it is amazing how far technology has come in that short space of time.  In my early computer days I built a website, with the help of my son, all about Flamborough, the little village where I had grown up and which I loved so much.  Today you can go on the web and find masses of photographs and information about that little fishing village.  It was not so when this event took place. For me at that time, it was as if I were the only person in the world who knew of the village and if I didn’t go back and visit, the whole place might vanish away as a figment of my imagination. Back then I was so hungry for news about Flamborough, I was almost obsessed.
 
One day I received an e-mail from someone who lived on Flamborough Head. The man’s name was Paul Hockney and he had seen my website and was just touching base with me to say that he lived only a few hundred yards away from where I had lived as a teenager.  I was so excited to be able to write to someone who actually lived there! I could hardly believe it.

The day after receiving Paul’s e mail I was skimming through the TV channels and hit upon the middle of a program about someone who had painted huge scenes of Yorkshire.  Because I also love Yorkshire (Flamborough is in Yorkshire) and I liked to paint, I stopped channel surfing and watched the program.  As the artist was speaking about his paintings I noticed that he had a Yorkshire accent.  I was all the more intrigued. 

When the program ended, the artist’s name came up on the screen as, David Hockney.  That didn’t mean a thing to me. I had no idea who he was. But as I was thinking about it, it suddenly it dawned on me:  wasn’t my e-mail friend from Flamborough called Hockney? Of course he was!  I quickly e-mailed Paul and asked if he were any relation to David.  He must have smiled to himself when he realized I had no idea who David Hockney was, because even back then he was famous most places in the world. 

You have probably guessed by now that Paul was David’s brother.
 
What a coincidence! If I hadn’t caught that TV program and Paul hadn’t written the day before, I would probably never have made the connection.

I have never told this story on my blog out of privacy for Jean and Paul, but they have now moved away from Flamborough so privacy is no longer a concern.

So that’s my connection to the famous artist whose paintings sell for millions of dollars !

No, I haven’t met David, but I do enjoy most of his paintings. We have been back to Flamborough  quite a few times since that first e–mail from Paul and enjoyed getting to know him and Jean over dinner in a couple of Flamborough’s finest pubs and worshiping with them at the Sewerbty Methodist Church.

It’s a small world and computers just make it smaller.  So drop over and visit Jenny.  She takes the most remarkable photographs.

9 comments:

MorningAJ said...

That's amazing. I can't imagine not knowing who David Hockney is. I've been a fan for years.

Talking of Sewerby... do you remember Sewerby Park? We used to go there to watch the deer. I'm not even sure if it still exists. (It was in the days when FlamingoLand was still called Kirby Misperton Zoo!)

snafu said...

He now does most of his work on a computer, no paints no boards, so no one can ever get an original from him anymore. It will be interesting to see what the art world does with his newer works after he has gone to the great easel in the sky, since they are all electronic. Look for the earliest date on these files to find an original?

Kay G. said...

Hey!
I did a post recently on Chagall's windows at a church in England but I have a photo of one of David Hockney's paintings on that post too...don't ask how I can put the two together, that is how my mind works and no one has figured it out yet! :-)

Scriptor Senex said...

What a great experience for you and how sensible (and kind) to wait until now to post it.

jabblog said...

What a fascinating story:-) Coincidences like that make the world seem such a small place.

sandy said...

Such an interesting post. I must go google Flamborough...

Elizabeth said...

Chris, Paul, a fine artist and photographer himself, was an LP colleague of mine and I have a hunch that I may have been at a service you attended with him and Jean. x

Morning's Minion said...

In spite of its hazards the interenet has made possible some lovely friendships. I know that I will never meet my blogging friends in person--but I can cherish them long distance!

jennyfreckles said...

Hi Chris - I've only just caught up with this. For some reason Blogger put a load of genuine comments into my spam box and I only just found them. Thanks for the link - and what a facinating account. I have never met David but I used to know Paul as he was at one time a local Councillor in Bradford, when I worked for the Council. Really nice man,and I imagine David is too once you can get past the security that a famous person must need. I think David is getting to look more and more like his brother actually. Two grand Yorkshire chaps.