Issue 17: Reflections

David Hockney: A Year in Normandie and Some Other Thoughts about Painting

Steve Russell

(UK)

Serpentine North, W Carriage Dr, London, W2 2AR
12 March – 23 August 2026

The key piece in this show is the vast ninety metre digital frieze documenting the Normandie seasons of Hockney’s own garden. A series of iPad digital images, created during the Covid lockdown, seamed together. The panorama travels around the internal wall of Serpentine North in a darkroom atmosphere and will undoubtedly be endlessly digitally captured by visitors. Ten recent bright acrylic paintings occupy the central gallery spaces, each featuring a reverse perspective table with a gingham tablecloth. Seated at or on the table are either a figure or an abstracted object, each featuring a very distinctive background, perspectives are further altered by the interior gallery mirrors.

Abstraction Resting on a Blue and White Checkered Tablecloth, 2025, Acrylic on canvas, 91.4 x 121.9 cm.

JP Resting on a Blue and White Checkered Tablecloth, 2025, Acrylic on canvas, 91.4 x 121.9 cm.

A large digital print from the frieze is positioned in the Serpentine North garden, encircled by the beautiful park surroundings.

Reflections David Hockney A Year in Normandie and Some Other Thoughts about Painting Steve Russell 1

Reflections David Hockney A Year in Normandie and Some Other Thoughts about Painting Steve Russell 2

Reflections David Hockney A Year in Normandie and Some Other Thoughts about Painting Steve Russell 3

Reflections David Hockney A Year in Normandie and Some Other Thoughts about Painting Steve Russell 4

Reflections David Hockney A Year in Normandie and Some Other Thoughts about Painting Steve Russell 5

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Steve Russell

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Contributor for Panorama.

Steve Russell, artist. Dealing with issues of self, identity and symbols through the medium of paint, ephemera and other drawing materials. My practice is a figurative style that marries diverse elements into an instantly recognizable, idiosyncratic idiom that is at times touching, dramatic and visceral. Using line and dramatically visceral expressive colour, I produce images that manage to be optimistic and intriguing, even in seemingly mundane or problematic contexts.