Why the Most Influential British Artist Said No to Everything

A note to young leaders.

Choose purpose over status. Every time.

Status is what others think of you. Purpose is what you’ll ultimately think of yourself.

David Hockney died last week a month short of his 89th birthday. A 2011 poll of his peers ranked him as the most influential British artist of all time – ahead of Turner and Gainsborou.

His signature phrase was “Love Life” – and it showed in every canvas he touched.

But Hockney’s real genius lay in his refusals:

• At school, academic streaming offered a stark choice: classics, science and languages for the ambitious; art only for those in the general course. Hockney didn’t blink: “I’ll be general, if you don’t mind.”
• When national service called in 1957, Hockney registered as a conscientious objector and worked as a hospital orderly instead. Two-years emptying bedpans was the price of principle, and he paid it without drama or complaint, before resuming his path to the Royal College of Art (RCA).
• At the RCA, graduating students were required to submit a life drawing of a female model and an academic essay. Hockney refused both. He submitted a drawing of a male bodybuilder and didn’t complete the required dissertation, insisting that he should be judged by his art alone. After initially refusing him graduation, the college eventually awarded him the gold medal.
• At the height of his fame in 1990, Hockney was offered a knighthood. He declined, saying: “I don’t value prizes of any sort. I value my friends.”

Whether you agree with his positions or not – he had the courage of his convictions.

And “don’t worry about what the neighbours think.” That’s the advice Hockney’s father gave him as a kid – and he adopted it to great effect.

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Photo: Detail of Hockney’s 15 x 40 feet oil painting, Bigger Trees Near Warter (2007). It’s a monumental-scale view of a Yorkshire coppice on the cusp of spring, depicting the latent energy of trees at the end of winter.