HUNGRY GERALD

HG has two Taschen art books–voluminous volume on David Hockney and a more modest sized book on Fernando Botero. Hockney is still alive and productive at 88. Botero died in 2023, aged 91.These are two of HG’s favorite artists and the books give HG much visual pleasure as HG looks at them from a comfortable leather lounge chair in HG/BSK’s family oceanfront home on Prince Edward Island, where free speech and democracy rule. There are few artists as productive as Hockney–portraits (large and small) , abstract and figurative paintings, gay characterizations of friends, lovers and idols (Christopher Isherwood), landscapes (small and monumental), etchings, collages, photography, stage sets and more ,much more. HG is very fond of Hockney’s Los Angeles swimming pool paintings, but HG’s speciâl love is for his huge, magnificent landscapes–so sorry can’t travel to London to see them. Botero’s paintings have an old master sheen and his vision of a bloated and frightening world give HG chills and thrills. No, these are not “fat” people but rather ingenious creations of volume. His paintings have wit and many subversive attacks on militarism and totalitarianism. His art demands your close attention and examination. And, they often make HG laugh.