David Hockney – a seminal British artist, purveyor of colourful pop art.

But his pop art was unique – focused on friends, ordinary people and languid landscapes, a total departure of the traditional pop art movement that examined consumerism and everyday items.

He also is a draftsman, printmaker, stage designer, and photographer.

As an artist Hockney is on a constant journey – exploring new styles, methods and perspectives.

Today at age 86 he still paints and experiments from his new home in a small village in France. For years he called California and England home, commuting between the two.

For years the critics savaged his art referring to it as eye candy, art without consequences – a perspective that has changed dramatically.

Today the critics review his art with a new eye.

Here is the New York Times with its perspective of a major Hockney show at New York’s Museum of Modern art.

“…Mr. Hockney, at 80, is not Jasper Johns or Gerhard Richter. But he has his own greatness, which flows from openly following his own desires — including his attraction to other men — while rigorously exploring the ways art and life feed each other, visually and emotionally. Full disclosure, forthright joy and forward motion are the dynamos of his art, which in my book at least, gives him an edge over Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon.”

Likewise his digital photography is now being widely accepted for its story-telling abilities.

Hockney’s latest efforts involve portraits and landscapes in a different style from what he did previously in those two genres.