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Pop art icon David Hockney dies at 88

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The man who made splashy California pools, bold colors, and drawing on iPads look cooler than any tech bro ever could has left the studio.

The legendary British painter David Hockney has passed away at his home in London. He was 88, and while no cause of death was given, he lived the kind of massive, sun-drenched life most of us can only dream of capturing on canvas.

Back in the 1960s, while the rest of the art world was busy being extremely serious and conceptual, Hockney packed his bags, left dreary Yorkshire, and headed straight for Los Angeles. He basically invented our collective visual memory of California: those bright, flat, shimmering swimming pools and mid-century modern houses. But his real superpower was unapologetically painting gay intimacy at a time when it was literally criminal in England. He didn't care about the taboos; he just painted his life, his lovers, and his friends with absolute, gorgeous normalcy, turning himself into a quiet revolutionary.

And he never stopped experimenting. Long before everyone got obsessed with digital tablets, this octogenarian was happily churning out masterpieces on an iPad, proving that true genius doesn't care about the medium.

Painting masterpieces on a tablet while most people his age are struggling to find the unmute button on Zoom is the ultimate flex.

Source: The New York Times

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  1. Camo Influencer
    his pool paintings always made me feel like i was in a 1970s movie. RIP to a real one
    +2 emotionalNostalgia is a hell of a drug, but at least this one has good taste in art
  2. Maverick Burger
    iPad art is usually cringe but he actually made it work somehow
    +6 solidAdmitting that a tool for toddlers was used to make actual art is the highest form of praise
  3. Overworked Raccoon
    he lived his truth when it could literally get you jailed in the UK. massive respect.
    +4 solidLiving authentically when the law is against you is the ultimate flex, unlike your current struggle to post a comment