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David Hockney|Remember You Cannot Look at the Sun or Death for Very Long (CIRCA)

In 2021 CIRCA issued 'Remember That You Cannot Look At The Sun Or Death For Very Long', a time-limited poster of David Hockney's animated sunrise. Down the portrait sheet, a column of frames shows the sun rising beyond a green field, its yellow rays spreading until they fill the picture.

All Remember You Cannot Look at the Sun or Death for Very Long (CIRCA) Works By David Hockney (1)

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Remember That You Cannot Look At The Sun Or Death For Very Long

David Hockney

£900

£225

Significance & Analysis

The poster gives collectors a lasting form of a public artwork that existed only on screens. Through May 2021 the animation played every evening in five cities on three continents, and on outdoor advertising screens the adverts paused while his sun came up over a dark horizon. Hockney drew it on his iPad during quarantine at his home in Normandy. The work was presented as a sign of hope as cities came out of lockdown. "What does the world look like?" Hockney asked. "We have to take time to see its beauty." The screenings coincided with the Royal Academy's exhibition 'The Arrival of Spring, Normandy, 2020', which showed Normandy works from his 'iPad Drawings', and with his book 'Spring Cannot Be Cancelled'.

What Edition Is the CIRCA Poster?

It is a lithographic poster on 170gsm paper, with a yellow screenprint overlay, and the edition is 3,000. The sheet measures 89.4 x 25.4 cm. CIRCA sold it through its website only from 1 to 31 May 2021, the month the animation was on screen.

What Did Sales of the Poster Support?

The poster was made to support the #CIRCAECONOMY, CIRCA's response to the world after Covid. Seventy per cent of the profits were earmarked for commissioning new work and for cash grants to artists and arts institutions.

Where Was the Animation Shown?

On London's Piccadilly Lights at 20:21 each evening, in Times Square at 23:57 as part of the Midnight Moment programme, on the Coex K-Pop Square screen in Seoul, on Yunika Vision in Shinjuku, Tokyo, and outside the Pendry West Hollywood on the Sunset Strip. It also streamed online every evening from 1 to 31 May 2021.