Until 23 January 2022 you can visit the David Hockney exhibitions at Bozar, Brussels‘ art museum adjacent to Brussels-Central Railway Station. David Hockney, OM, CH, RA is perhaps most famous for his paintings of scantily clad men, often near pools. 

Bozar presents two exhibition in one ticket.

1. ‘David Hockney: Works from the Tate Collection, 1954-2017‘.
2. ‘David Hockney: The Arrival of Spring, Normandy, 2020‘.

Then

“‘David Hockney: Works form the Tate Collection, 1954-2017’ collects a comprehensive series of more than eighty of Hockney’s paintings, drawings and prints from the Tate Collection. This exhibition spans his entire career and includes a number of memorable works from the last century, such as the vast double portraits ‘My Parents‘ and ‘Mr and Mrs Clark‘ and ‘Percy‘. The imposing ‘Bigger Trees Near Warter‘ from 2007 is Hockney’s largest piece of work (over 12 metres long) and transports the visitor to a gloomy day in Yorkshire, where the artist grew up.”, the Bozar website says.

This introductions omits Hockney’s drawings and paintings of scantily clad twinks and men. 

One of these is ‘Man in Shower in Beverly Hills‘ from 1964. Hockney was fascinated by American showers. Californians shower all the time, he wrote. He was mesmerized by the sight of naked bums in water. Can you blame him?

Let’s not forget homosexuality was only decriminalised in England and Wales in 1967. Scotland followed in 1981, Northern Ireland in 1982. The Isle of Man waited until 1992!

Another noteworthy work is ‘Peter Getting Out of Nick’s Pool‘ (1966). The Peter is question is Peter Schlesinger, then is his boyfriend. 

His illustrations for Constantine Peter Cavafy, also known as Konstantinos Petrou Kavafis (Κωνσταντίνος Π. Καβάφης) are in a completely different style. Drawn in Beirut in Lebanon, they show male intimacy, briefs, armpits and cocks. 

Now

“‘David Hockney: The Arrival of Spring, Normandy, 2020’, presented in partnership with the Royal Academy of Arts, London, consists of a series of contemporary works by the painter, now aged 84. During Spring 2020, at his home in Normandy, he used his iPad to ‘paint’ the unfolding of spring around the time of the first lockdown. The colourful paintings of the beauty of nature remind us that we must continue to ‘love life’ even during these unsettling times: ‘Do remember they can’t cancel the spring’. The series of 116 works is printed on high-quality paper and will be exhibited in full in the Centre for Fine Arts“, the Bozar websites says. 

Colourful artworks I actually would buy if I had the money. Although I’d rather have some of his homo-erotic work.

Male nudity

Male, homo-erotic nudity in museums is so rare. Queer art in mainstream galleries are rare. 

“And all the classical statues?”, you say? Yes, what about them? They’re not that common. And they are certainly not openly homo-erotic. They are often mutilated. 

Nowadays, social media are very prude. The City of Vienna has even decided to create an OnlyFans page just to show some nudity. I’m not showing any here as we weren’t allowed to make photos. You can look them up on the www.

So I enjoyed the exhibited male nudity very much. 

Exploring Brussels

• The orange world of Design Museum Brussels.
• Brussels Planetarium.
• Brussels’ Gare Maritime.
• Brussels’ Pannenhuis Park and L28 Park.
• Brussels’ Senne Park.
• The Hotel. Brussels.
• REVIEW | Train World exhibition ‘From Peking to Hankow: a Belgian adventure in China’.
• Ducal and Imperial Palace of Coudenberg in Brussels.
• MIMA – Millennium Iconoclast Museum of Art in Brussels.
• Villa Empain in Brussels.
• Pullman Brussels Centre Midi.
• Autoworld automobile museum in Brussels.
• Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History in Brussels, Belgium.
• REVIEW | Thalys Lounge at Brussels South/Midi station.
• PHOTOS | Train World railway museum in Brussels.