David Hockney: A Retrospective

The major theme of Hockney's art, according to one essay in this catalogue of a traveling exhibit, is a ""yawning sense of absence,'' an unfulfilled desire for connectedness. The transplanted Yorkshireman's pictures capture Southern California's pools, palms and play with deadpan seriousness. This album lets the reader decide whether Hockney's paintings, collages and prints are more than the febrile imaginings of a slick eclectic. His grid-like composite photographs attempt to convey ``lived time''; in jaunty set designs and costumes for The Rake's Progress, The Magic Flute and Tristan und Isolde, he rummages through the vast terrain of art history. All the media in which Hockney has worked are amply represented here, yet overall his output has come to look monotonous and lightweight. (March)