Fresh Ideas

David Hockney, blue-chip pop master of the acrylic on canvas, has been "painting" lately on his iPhone and iPad.

Deborah Wilk -- Interior Design, 3/1/2011 2:44:00 PM

David Hockney, blue-chip pop master of the acrylic on canvas, has been "painting" lately on his iPhone and iPad. When the Fondation Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent in Paris was planning to show this work, independent curator Charlie Scheips envisioned an installation that "didn't look like an Apple store," Scheips says. So Parallel Design president Ali Tayar riffed on a display technique that Hockney himself previously devised. Rather than hanging directly on the wall, pieces rest on wall-mounted MDF blocks.

"Working with Hockney means stepping into his beautiful world, full of optimism and intellectual curiosity," Tayar says. For the Paris run of "David Hockney: Fleurs Fraîches," he installed the iPads in a horizontal row, while smaller iTouch screens appeared in a grid. The blocks supporting the screens were screwed to larger MDF constructions that also hid the necessary wires and electrical sources. He painted the surrounding walls the same earthy red that Hockney has in his dining room-a vast departure from the Apple aesthetic. Ditto for the oak-trimmed MDF banquettes, updates on a Napoleonic settee.

The show has already closed at the Fondation Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent, which occupies the late fashion designer's atelier. Next stop, with an April opening, is the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Copenhagen.