“hockney began painting flowers in bed just after buying his first iphone in 2009. rendering the simple one- or two-stem arrangements placed in a glass for him each morning by his boyfriend, chef john fitzherbert, the artist experimented with the iphone painting app, its variety of brush techniques, colors, and line densities.

twenty of his closest friends began receiving e-mails with iphone-painted flowers attached, including curator and cultural historian charlie scheips, who immediately saw the potential for an exhibit, especially when the number of hockney iphone-painted flowers (and later, ipad-painted flowers) grew to over 600: “this is a serious component of work, in the context of david’s five-decade career,” says scheips, who curated the show. “these flowers are ‘fresh’ in how new they are, how they’ve been sent, how they’re viewed, and the way they generate light.”