David Hockney: The Biography, 1975%E2%80%932012

In this exhaustive biography, Sykes continues the second part of his chronicle of the life and work of Hockney, the British painter, photographer, printmaker, and stage designer. The detailed story resumes with the artist accepting an invitation to spend a heady social season on Fire Island, which was all "sex drugs and rock 'n' roll," and continues through his trips between homes in London and Los Angeles. Sykes vividly conveys the passion behind Hockney's engagement with new technologies and art practices%E2%80%94including his panoramic photo collages with Polaroids, and his pioneering use of photocopying, Paintbox technology, iPhones, and iPads%E2%80%94and examines the artist's major inspirations, including life in Hollywood, which resulted in some of his best known works, and his road trips across the United States. Meticulously woven together from correspondences, interviews, and diaries of family and friends, Sykes's revealing narrative offers intimate reflections and anecdotes. The many individual perspectives make for a candid portrait that explores everything from Hockney's dinners and parties with the likes of Allen Ginsberg and David Bowie, to his devotion to his mother, his relentless work ethic, his occasionally difficult personality, and his anxieties about the spread of AIDS and his own advancing age. This even-handed and diligent account is a worthwhile examination of the artist some have called "Britain's greatest living painter." Agent: Ed Victor, Ed Victor Literary Agency. (Nov.)