EOS: David Hockney at the Royal Academy of Arts (U)

This illuminating documentary details the undimmed curiosity and enthusiasm of the grand old man of British painting.

When you think of the artist David Hockney, your mind goes straight to those iconic 1960s portraits: cool, stylish and sun-soaked. Exhibition on Screen focuses not on Hockney’s back catalogue, but the art he was making in later life.

A key figure of the Pop Art generation, Hockney reminds us that when he started out, abstraction was king. Hockney’s instinct to go in his own direction paid off. While Hockney was undoubtedly an innovator, the documentary remarks on his debt to fellow artists. His vitality is underpinned by an appreciation of the masters.

There’s copious interview material with the artist, conducted by Tim Marlow. Hockney still seemingly maintained his transnational life, moving backwards and forwards between the US (where he created seminal works such as A Bigger Splash) and the UK, where his regular driving trips encouraged a new appreciation for his home country’s landscape.

Hockney comes across as an ever-enthusiastic, always curious figure, forever concerned with painting and how to make his marks on the canvas.