Two Boys in a Pool, Hollywood, David Hockney, 1965

Hockney's paintings depicting hillside pools hint at a sense of exoticism surrounding the mythos of the American west, specifically Los Angeles. Hockney's pools range from intimate depictions of somewhere that might feel familiar to minimalist renderings of the lifestyle this setting and colors represent. Sometimes his works include people though the lack of figures becomes much more interesting, they feel lonely despite the idealization there's no one around to enjoy it, are Hockney's hypothetical subjects simply bored of perfection? As inviting as his scenes may appear at first glance, there's an underlying sense of unease in the landscape's obsessively manicured flat and rigidness. There's a note to be made in that Hockney's paintings are directly influenced by composite photographs, no singular location actually exists emphasizing the fantasy. This paradise that Hockney's searching for only exists on canvas and it's forever inaccessible to you or me, a land of surfaces. The pool acts as a class barrier as well as a forum for Hockney to confront desire in plain air. The male nude is disguised in this setting. Much like how photographer Bruce Bellas (Bruce of Los Angeles) invented the california boy, creating homoerotic work through the means of photographing bodybuilders.