Gregory With Gym Socks
Signed Print

Shown naked but for a pair of striped gym socks, Gregory Evans poses for one of many portraits by his lover David Hockney. His eyes are shut, his face turned away from the artist and viewer. His mouth is slightly open and the scene is suffused in intimacy, as if we have stumbled into a post-coital chat between the couple. The portrait is one of many of Hockney’s friends he made for a 1976 portfolio of print published by the prestigious Gemini workshop which also features two other portraits of Gregory. The present work is notable for the sitter’s nudity, however, which shifts the tone of a series that focuses on friendship towards the erotic, and, with the inclusion of the socks, the slightly comic. Working with Gemini allowed Hockney to move from etching, his preferred medium during his early career, to lithography. With this new technique he was able to recreate the spontaneity of his line drawings with the assistance of master printer Kenneth Tyler. As well as being the only nude in the portfolio, this work is also one of the smaller editions of the series, having been printed only 14 times, making it highly sought after by collectors and rarely seen on the market.