We hear a lot about the negative effects of doomscrolling on the web and social media—spending excessive time consuming content, particularly negative news or user-generated schlock.
But here’s my online feed at its finest: finding out that the artist David Hockney passed away at age 88, and then rediscovering how much I loved his art.
Hockney, who worked as a painter, photographer, and later as a digital art creator, rose to prominence in the 1960s as part of the Pop Art movement, which largely replaced the abstraction that dominated the previous decades. Although he was British, Hockney spent many years living in California, and his paintings from this period reflect his bold use of color and his fascination with light and space. He was also one of the first prominent artists to include gay themes in his work.
His sun-soaked California paintings of landscapes and swimming pools I find particularly mesmerizing. He rendered the water’s surface in flat, graphic ripples and patterns that were both abstract and convincing.
I won’t call it doomscrolling, I’ll call it moodscrolling. I spent a long time online looking at, absorbing, and appreciating his genius. Here are a couple of photos of his paintings. Maybe you want to look up his work online too.
