Hockney the cockney

David Hockney

Not a cockney

A Yorkshire Bradford man

Came to London

To study art

Left a painter man

David loved his iPhone

As this creation shows

Painting with the touchscreen bits

Artistic juices flowed

For now he’s gone

His art will cease

To flow from this bright star

But memory will linger on

Of artist evermore

Painter, printmaker, photographer, British Artist David Hockney was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire, July 9, 1937. He died June 11, 2026.

His best known work, A Bigger Splash, is currently on display at Tate Britain in London. As a volunteer visitor host at Tate, I often show people to this painting,

I was first shown this image by an art teacher in 1974 and have never liked it. To me it is cold, stark, and the artist seems to have no empathy with his subject.

When I first saw some of his digital works, a few years ago, I rather warmed to the artist. For many of these works, Hockney would ‘paint’ directly onto the touchscreen.

Despite his advancing years, Hockney was never shy about experimenting with tech.