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True to Life

Twenty-Five Years of Conversations with David Hockney

Lawrence Weschler author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:University of California Press

Published:16th Dec '08

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

True to Life cover

Soon after the book's publication in 1982, artist David Hockney read Lawrence Weschler's "Seeing Is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees: A Life of Contemporary Artist" Robert Irwin and invited Weschler to his studio to discuss it, initiating a series of engrossing dialogs, gathered here for the first time. Weschler chronicles Hockney's protean production and speculations, including his scenic designs for opera, his homemade xerographic prints, his exploration of physics in relation to Chinese landscape painting, his investigations into optical devices, his taking up of watercolor - and then his spectacular return to oil painting, around 2005, with a series of landscapes of the East Yorkshire countryside of his youth. These conversations provide an astonishing record of what has been Hockney's grand endeavor, nothing less than an exploration of 'the structure of seeing' itself.

"Aside from being a terrific writer, Weschler is clearly a great listener and interviewer." -- Robert L. Pincus San Diego Union-Tribune "Weschler rewards his readers with lengthy quotes, an overwhelming wealth of knowledge and a lively narrative style." (Starred Review) Publishers Weekly "'Seeing Is Forgetting' and 'True to Life' are not only about the artists talking to Weschler or, through him, to each other; they're about the artists talking to themselves." -- David Ulin Salt Lake Tribune "'Seeing Is Forgetting' and 'True to Life' are not only about the artists talking to Weschler or, through him, to each other; they're about the artists talking to themselves." -- David Ulin Los Angeles Times Book Review

ISBN: 9780520258792

Dimensions: 203mm x 152mm x 20mm

Weight: 590g

272 pages