Inside it Opens Up as Well

Medium: Photographic drawing printed on paper mounted on Dibond
Year: 2018
Size: 23 x 65 3/4 inches (58.4 x 165.1 cm)
Edition: 25
Printer: The Artist

Signed, dated and numbered

In the 1980s, British artist David Hockney began working with Polaroids, originally intending to utilize the images to aid in his painting process. Unexpectedly intrigued by photography’s ability to render numerous perspectives of the same space and enthralled with the temporal aspect of the medium, Hockney’s composites evolved into large scale photo-collages. In recent years, Hockney has combined photography with his drawing and painting practice, resulting in a series of “photographic drawings” of which the present lot is a premiere example.

Originally exhibited in Something New in Painting (and Photography) [and even Printing] at PACE Gallery in New York in 2018, Inside It Opens Up As Well, 2018, depicts a sprawling studio filled with representations of Hockney’s hexagonal landscape paintings and portraits, either hung on the wall or perched atop easels.

In the present work, an uncanny representation of Hockney stands off-center, arms upstretched and peering into a painting which reads “outside it opens up” on the top and “perspective is tunnel vision” on the bottom. Two onlookers sit casually as Hockney undergoes a moment of fervent revelation. The scene encapsulates not only an oeuvre of Hockney’s work, but also affirms Lawrence Weschler’s assertion that, “for years now, exploring, critiquing, and trying to transcend the limitations of conventional perspective have all been near the center of his creative practice.”

 

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Auction Results

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Sotheby’s Hong-Kong: 29 September 2025
Estimated: HKD 400,000 – 600,000
HKD 609,600 / USD 78,355

DAVID HOCKNEY (b. 1937)
Inside It Opens Up as Well, 2018
Photographic drawing printed on paper
60.2 x 167 cm (23 3/4 x 65 3/4 inches)
Signed, dated 2018 and numbered 24/25 (lower right)

Christie’s Paris: 8 December 2023
Estimated: EUR 50,000 – 70,000
EUR 50,400 / USD 54,380

DAVID HOCKNEY (born 1937)
Inside it Opens Up As Well, 2018
Photographic drawing printed on paper mounted on Dibond
Signed, dated and numbered ‘David Hockney 2018 13/25’ (lower right)

Phillips London: 21 September 2023
Estimated: GBP 50,000 – 70,000
GBP 63,500 / USD 78,275

Sotheby’s Hong-Kong: 6 October 2022
Estimated: HKD 400,000 – 600,000
HKD 756,000 / USD 96,310

DAVID HOCKNEY (b. 1937)
Inside it Opens Up as Well, 2018
Photographic drawing printed on paper, mounted on Dibond
Signed, dated 2018 and numbered 25/25
This work is number 25 from an edition of 25