David Hockney: 'How do you paint memorable pictures?'

How do you paint memorable pictures?

Nobody knows, really.

I mean, it’s a memorable picture, ‘The Bigger Splash’, but you don’t know you’re doing them because there’s no formula. If there was a formula there’d be a lot more memorable pictures. And there aren’t that many, most are forgettable, aren’t they?

The show now… I mean, I am nearly 80 so there’s 60 years of work. Some people saw my work as a bit ‘bitty’. But I think there’s a continuity to it.

An attitude to space and time.

Time is elastic and I play with that idea.

People look at them. Children look at them. Names don’t mean a thing to children. They’re just reacting to what’s there.

Well I know children like my art and I think that’s rather good, I think.

When you’re painting it’s now. I like to live in the now. That’s all there is: now. Isn’t it, actually?

I have the vanity of an artist. I want my work to be seen. But I don’t necessarily have to be seen.

When I see the exhibition I’ll probably be quite impressed, actually.