Today we mourn the loss of David Hockney, an artist whose life and work transformed the possibilities of seeing, feeling, and understanding the world.
His legacy reaches far beyond the art world and deeply into our own story at MODO and ACE CIC. For us, David was never simply an artist we admired from afar. His work has been part of our daily lives for many years, shaping our thinking, our conversations, and the way we invite others to look. It continues to live on our walls, in our programmes, and in the ideas we carry forward.
When we first opened The Hockney Gallery, now trading as MODO and Pentimento, David welcomed us into his home for an unforgettable Sunday afternoon. Over glasses of champagne we spoke at length about The Arrival of Spring in Normandy, which at the time was only a concept forming in his mind. He talked about the idea of moving to France, about the seasons, and about watching nature unfold slowly enough that painting could keep pace with it. Our conversation wandered the way conversations with David often did, moving from Chinese scroll painting to Michelangelo and his young assistant Cecchino Bracci, and then back again to the Bayeux Tapestry. A small booklet of the tapestry lay open on the table beside us, folding out in the same way the book of My Normandy would later do. He spoke about wanting to create something similar with landscape and time, a work that unfolded around the viewer. "If you stood still long enough", he said, "the seasons themselves would become the story." He was dressed as he often was: green cardigan, yellow glasses. His Pembroke Studio was filled with memories, Time magazine covers, photographs, fragments of a life lived in colour. He smoked; JP sat nearby, taking calls, punctuating the easy warmth of the room. David was jolly, kind, encouraging, and generous with his ideas. His voice carried the unmistakable softness of Yorkshire, and his presence left a lasting imprint on us. We left only when the champagne ran out, wishing we could have stayed longer. But in truth, we never really left that conversation.
David’s work continues to live in our gallery, in the questions we ask, and in the way we invite people to look at the world around them. His ideas about perception, time, and attention continue to shape the spirit of MODO and the work we do through ACE CIC. David also reminded us that art is not simply something we admire. It is a form of human intelligence.
Throughout history many of the great thinkers, including Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin, were deeply engaged with art and visual thinking. David shared that same curiosity about how we understand the world.
From his investigations into optics and the Old Masters to his pioneering embrace of the iPad and digital drawing, he explored how images shape knowledge, perception, and discovery. For him, technology was never separate from art, it was simply another tool in the long human effort to understand light, colour, space, and life itself. Art has always been part of every society, every culture, and every industry, shaping imagination, innovation, and the economies that grow from them.
David understood that deeply, and he never stopped exploring it.
From all of us at MODO and ACE CIC: Thank you, David. For your spirit, your courage, your colour, and your insistence that art is a form of life. Your work continues to guide our mission, to help people look more closely at the world around them. You loved life. And life loved you back. And every day at MODO, as someone pauses in front of your work and begins to look more carefully at the world, that conversation continues.
You will be deeply missed.