| Artist: | David Hockney (British, b. 1937) (1937 - ) |
|---|---|
| Title: | Ink in the Room, from Some New Prints, 1993 |
| Series: | Some New Prints, 1993 |
| Medium: | Lithograph in colors on Arches 88 paper. |
| Image Size: | 25 1/2 x 35 1/2 in (64.8 x 90.2 cm) |
| Sheet Size: | 25 1/2 x 35 1/2 in (64.8 x 90.2 cm) |
| Edition: | Numbered from the edition of 68 in pencil in the lower left. |
| Signature: | This work is hand signed by David Hockney (Bradford 1937-) in pencil in the lower right. |
| Item # | W-101987 |
David Hockney, Ink in the Room, from Some New Prints, 1993, is one of the most atmospheric and visually inventive works from David Hockney’s Some New Prints series, produced during a period of renewed experimentation in his printmaking. The composition transforms an imagined interior into a dreamlike environment filled with shifting planes, intense color, and ambiguous forms, creating a compelling exploration of space, abstraction, and visual perception.
During the early 1990s, Hockney returned to printmaking with a growing interest in abstract compositions that allowed color, pattern, and gesture to define space. Rather than relying on conventional perspective, the works in Some New Prints combine layered forms and altered viewpoints to create environments that appear familiar yet impossible. The series reflects Hockney’s continuing interest in how an image can suggest movement, depth, and changing focus without describing a recognizable location literally.
Rather than depicting a traditional room, Ink in the Room constructs its interior through vivid yellow walls, green tiled surfaces, a fluid blue floor, and two mysterious upright forms that cast long shadows across the composition. Dripping, vine-like lines descend through the space, while contrasting patterns and overlapping planes make the room appear to shift between depth and flatness. The result is unmistakably Hockney: colorful, imaginative, experimental, and visually engaging.
Works from Hockney’s early 1990s period are valued for the way they combine his recognizable use of brilliant color with a more abstract and psychologically charged visual language. Within Some New Prints, Ink in the Room is particularly memorable for its surreal interior, striking palette, and balance between geometric structure and expressive movement. Its limited production and ambitious printing process make signed impressions especially desirable.
Produced in collaboration with the master printers at Gemini G.E.L., Ink in the Room combines color lithography and screenprinting on Arches 88 wove paper. Published by Gemini G.E.L. in Los Angeles with its blindstamps and inkstamp on the reverse, the image measures approximately 23¼ by 34 inches, with a full sheet measuring approximately 25½ by 35½ inches. The layered techniques give the composition a rich contrast between flat color, painterly marks, and sharply defined patterns.
Museum Collections:
The significance of Ink in the Room is reflected by its inclusion in important museum collections, including:
The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino
Its presence in these respected institutions underscores the importance of Some New Prints and Hockney’s innovative contribution to late twentieth-century abstraction and printmaking.
This example, numbered from the limited edition of only 68 and hand signed and dated by David Hockney, represents an outstanding opportunity to acquire one of the artist’s most distinctive abstract interior prints. An additional 14 artist’s proofs were produced outside the standard edition. Combining rarity, technical complexity, exceptional craftsmanship, and one of Hockney’s most imaginative compositions of the period, Ink in the Room is an important work for serious collectors of modern and contemporary art.
David Hockney’s Some New Prints series, created between 1993 and 1994, marks an important shift toward abstraction in his printmaking. Using vivid color, layered textures, organic shapes, and energetic patterns, Hockney created imaginative compositions that move between landscape, interior space, and pure abstraction. Produced with Gemini G.E.L. through combinations of lithography and screenprinting, the series explores movement, depth, and visual rhythm while preserving the spontaneity of drawing and painting.
The works in David Hockney’s Moving Focus Series (1984–1986) include: Slow Forest, Ink in the Room, Four Part Splinge, Blue Hang Cliff, Going Out, Warm Start.
Catalogue Raisonné & COA:
David Hockney Ink in the Room, from Some New Prints, 1993 is fully documented and referenced in the below catalogue raisonnés and related texts. Copies will be enclosed as added documentation with the invoices that will accompany the sale of the work.
Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, catalogue number 333.
Gemini G.E.L. sequence number 1602.
David Hockney (British, b. 1937)Ink in the Room, from Some New Prints, 1993 |
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| Lithograph in colors on Arches 88 paper. | |
| from the edition of 68 in pencil in the lower left. | |
| hand signed by David Hockney (Bradford 1937-) in pencil in the lower right. | |
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