In this blog post, I will be exploring two artworks from the Tate Britain and investigate the way domestic space is portrayed. The first piece of art is a paiting by David Hockney called ‘A Bigger Splash’ achieved in 1967. The second artwork I will be discussing is ‘Couple Kissing, Whitechapel, London’ by Bandele ‘Tex’ Ajetunmobi, a photograph taken during the 1960s.
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‘ A Bigger Splash’ is an acrylic on canvas paiting which depicts a splash in a Californian swimming pool. This paiting is part of a trilogy of ‘splash’ paintings and is the biggest one out of the three. It was achieved whilst Hockney was teaching at the University of California at Berkeley. Hockney was inspired by the many swimming pools in Los Angeles and how most people owned one. Furthermore, it is also believed that Hockney got influenced by a book that was dedicated to the building of swimming pools.
The foreground is dominated by the swimming pool with divined board which adds depth to the somewhat flat paiting. In the background, there is a typical Californian building. This is Californian style is clearly seen due to the rectangular shape of the building swell as being a single storey house with two large sliding windows. Infront of the house, there is a single chair and besides the house there are two extremely long palm trees which again confirm the location.
To continue, the colours that Hockney employed in this paiting are very bright and they are used in a very flat way. This is perhaps due to the lack of detail and shading creating a very unrealistic image. There is also a contrast in colours. The yellow diving board stands out against the light blue swimming pool. This is repeated with the blue sky and the flesh coloured building.
Hockney has stated “When you photograph a splash, you’re freezing a moment and it becomes something else. I realise that a splash could never be seen this way in real life, it happens too quickly. And I was amused by this, so I painted it in a very, very slow way.” (Quoted in Kinley, [p.5].)