The Magician of Vision, David Hockney, Teaches You a New Way to Look at the World
Hello.
I am truly, from the bottom of my heart, delighted to be able to meet you like this today.
Everything I am about to tell you has been prepared especially for you, as a singular gift.
Please, let the tension leave your shoulders, relax your mind, and just listen gently to my words.
“We see things not as they are, but as we are.”
── Seneca
How did you look at the scenery outside your window this morning?
Was it just the same tedious, overly familiar everyday landscape?
Or did you happen to find some kind of new discovery there?
Why is it that, even though we all live in the exact same world every single day, some people find it utterly boring while others can discover infinite beauty within it?
The secret to unraveling this mystery lies within a single painter, a master of contemporary art named David Hockney.
Even now, he continues to teach us the true beauty of the world that sits right before our eyes.
At first glance, the world he depicts may seem incredibly vibrant, perhaps like occurrences in some far-off, distant realm.
However, that is a mistake.
What David Hockney is truly trying to paint is nothing other than the very movement of your own gaze, you who are living in this exact moment.
He never leaves a being like you behind.
He accompanies the movements of your heart—how you view the world—more gently and more deeply than anyone else.
How to Discover the Brilliance Hidden Within Your Everyday Life, Just for You
Among David Hockney’s most iconic works is a series of paintings depicting swimming pools in Los Angeles during the early summer.
The shimmering blue water, the violently splashing white foam, and the quiet mansion standing just beyond.
Why is it that, simply by looking at one of those pool paintings, we experience the illusion that we are standing in that very place, feeling the pleasant breeze on our skin?
It is not because he simply captured the scenery like a photograph.
Rather, it is because he succeeded in locking the raw “flow of time” of a human being—something a mechanical photographic lens can never capture—inside a single canvas.
A camera lens stops a single moment of time with a sharp click, doesn’t it?
But what about the human eye?
Your eyes never stay perfectly still, staring at only one single point.
Glancing here, looking there, constantly moving around, your eyes assemble the world before you inside your head by combining memory and experience.
David Hockney attempted to recreate that exact free movement of the “human eye” upon the canvas.
This is precisely what constitutes the rhythm of sight, appealing directly to human psychology.
He is speaking to you, saying:
Observe this world more freely, more greedily.
“The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud. To see things with your own eyes.”
── Hypatia
These words belong to a great female philosopher of antiquity, but they are deeply connected both to David Hockney’s way of life and to your own life as you live it now.
We tend to inadvertently view the world through the filters of other people’s eyes or social conventions, don’t we?
We think, “If that person said it’s good, it must be good,” or “If everyone says it’s right, it must be right.”
But if you do that, you lose sight of the brilliance of your very own life.
David Hockney continued to thoroughly observe the world with his own eyes, no matter what anyone else said.
When he began painting using an iPad, the critics around him laughed and said, “That sort of thing isn’t art.”
Yet, he did not care at all.
Because within that new tool called a digital device, he discovered an unseen, entirely new possibility of light that expanded the human gaze even further.
There is absolutely no need to fear the evaluations of others.
The things that you find beautiful are absolutely right, simply because you feel them to be so.
Endless Exploration and the Adventure of the New Canvas Called Digital
David Hockney is a painter who fiercely dislikes staying in one place.
Just when you think he is painting in oils, he creates photo collages by combining hundreds of Polaroid photographs like a puzzle, and next, he pulls out an iPad and begins painting light with his fingertips.
Why does he continue to challenge himself with new methods one after another like this?
It is because he is entirely honest and desperate when it comes to “expressing the world.”
This passion of his, which could even be called an obsession, teaches us something incredibly important about how we live.
If we cling to a single way of doing things and fear change, we can never encounter true emotion.
If you are facing a wall and suffering right now, try to remember this lighthearted spirit of adventure that David Hockney possesses.
By changing your tools, changing your perspective, and changing your location, a solution that was invisible yesterday can suddenly float vividly before your eyes.
“Trust in yourself, and God will guide you. Never let your inner light be extinguished.”
── Saint Catherine of Siena
This powerful conviction spoken by Saint Catherine is the exact attitude David Hockney maintains when facing new technology.
No matter how many years piled upon him, he never allowed the light of his inner curiosity to die out.
On the contrary, he mastered even the most cutting-edge digital technology, and just like a child who has acquired a new toy, his eyes sparkled as he continued to bring forth new works.
When you feel like giving up halfway through life, perhaps because you think you are no longer young or lack experience, I want you to remember the figure of this painter.
Age has nothing to do with the human eye and heart.
As long as there is a will to see, the world will expose its fresh form to you at any time, over and over again.
The End of Loneliness and the Miracle of Connection Born from Overlapping Gazes
When staring intently at a painting by David Hockney, one can be seized by a certain strange sensation.
It is a quiet intersection of sight, as if the scenery and the people depicted are staring right back at you.
As long as we live, we can never completely escape the shadows of loneliness and isolation.
You, too, must occasionally feel a deep loneliness, as if you have been left all alone in the world.
However, David Hockney’s paintings will quietly sit down right next to your loneliness.
Because his paintings are all the very memory of love—of how deeply he loved the subject and how passionately he gazed upon it.
Look at the portraits he painted of his friends and family.
There, the deep mutual trust and the gentle, wordless exchange of glances are captured exactly as they were.
When you touch his art, you are never alone.
Through the eyes of the painter, you too can connect deeply with the world, and with others.
“When words do not reach the heart, there is a cry of truth within the silence. My poetry cannot be delivered to those who do not possess the eyes of the soul.”
── Al-Mutanabbi
Al-Mutanabbi, called the greatest poet of the Arab world, was a man who literally staked his life on the power of his words.
It is said that his poetry possessed a terrifying, hypnotic rhythm that instantly captivated anyone who heard it.
One day, due to his proud and defiant verses, his life was targeted by enemies.
Finding himself cornered and heavily outnumbered, Al-Mutanabbi wisely attempted to flee the scene, but behind him, his servant began reciting his past poetry aloud.
The servant said, “Shall Al-Mutanabbi, who wrote such courageous verses, flee now?”
Hearing those words, Al-Mutanabbi turned on his heel, preferring death to the dishonor of running away, and faced his enemies knowing he would be killed.
For him, betraying his own words and convictions was far more terrifying than dying.
The paintings of David Hockney possess this exact same life-risking honesty.
When he pours his gaze onto a canvas or a screen, there is absolutely no deception, no compromise.
That is precisely why his works remain authentic, capable of shaking our hearts even after 100 or 200 years have passed.
To Repaint the Story of Your Life with More Vivid Colors
Here, let me tell you a slightly surprising story.
This great painter named David Hockney, whom we have been discussing, is actually an ordinary person who exists very close to you.
He was not born a flawless genius.
He is simply a human being who refused to give up more than anyone else, and who observed what was in front of him longer than anyone else.
In life, things rarely go perfectly from the very beginning.
There may be nights when you fail, get laughed at by others, despair over your own lack of talent, and shed tears.
However, you must not stop there.
Just as David Hockney acquired those dazzling colors by piling up thousands and tens of thousands of sketches, your life experiences will shape you into a wonderful existence, piece by piece, like laying down bricks one by one.
“Do not live another’s life. Be the ultimate observer and expresser of your own life.”
── Montaigne
Montaigne, the French wise man, reached universal human psychology by looking deeply into himself.
The paintings of David Hockney also exist at the very peak of this “observation.”
Each leaf of the trees and each ripple on the water’s surface he paints is proof of how dearly he regarded and loved the time given to him in life.
Are you able to cherish the time in your own life?
Chased by the chores of busy days, are you overlooking the beautiful miracles occurring right before you?
David Hockney’s work gives you the courage to stop.
And it teaches you that the very sight before your eyes right now is a supreme work of art, more valuable than anything else.
The Nobility of Taking the First Step Right Here and Now, Unafraid of Failure
When we try to start something new, we invariably think, “What if I fail?” or “I don’t want people to see me looking foolish.”
Why do we put the brakes on ourselves like that?
It may be because we care too much about the result called success, and have forgotten the true joy that exists within the process itself.
David Hockney is a person who does not fear failure at all.
For him, even the moments when painting does not go well are nothing more than delightful hints for unraveling a new visual mystery.
Please try to imitate this figure of a painter who leaps into new mediums with a spirit of “instant decision, instant conclusion, instant execution.”
First, just try doing it.
No matter what result comes of it, the next path will surely open from there.
Your courageous action will become the finest paint to color your own life more beautifully than anyone else’s.
“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances.”
── Shakespeare
On the grand stage called the world, what kind of performance is the protagonist named “you” putting on right now?
You must not stay slumped over, acting as the tragic heroine.
Just as David Hockney unleashed brilliant colors into a monochrome world, you can illuminate your own stage with your own hands.
His art gives you infinite inspiration and endless vitality for that very purpose.
Now, take a deep breath and look at the world before you once again with fresh eyes.
An incredibly beautiful sight must be waiting, longing for your gaze to find it.
The Joy of Giving and the Liberation of the Heart Brought by Serving Others
We tend to fixate on obtaining things from others or seeking their approval.
However, true happiness and stability of the heart might actually exist only within the act of “giving” something to someone else.
Why does David Hockney continue to paint such a massive volume of work, as if grinding away his own life?
It is because he does not paint for himself alone.
He wishes to generously share the beauty of the world he discovered through his eyes with you, to lighten your heart even a little bit, and to bring you joy.
This is the very spirit of a true artist—an utmost service born of putting one’s skin in the game.
“If you truly wish to make people happy, you must first offer the most beautiful thing within yourself without withholding anything.”
── Shuji Terayama
This provocative yet gentle message spoken by Shuji Terayama perfectly captures the essence of David Hockney’s art.
To dedicate all of one’s talent and time for the joy of someone else.
This is by no means a dark thing called self-sacrifice.
Rather, the realization that you were able to bring joy to someone travels back around to deeply save your own soul, granting you infinite strength.
The kind words you offer someone today, or the smile you give them, are also magnificent works of art and the highest form of service. That small act of giving will soothe the pain of you and the world, lighting a new flame of hope.
An Unyielding Spirit to Crawl Out of the Abyss of Despair and Grasp the Eternal Light
In life, there are times when unavoidable hardships and unreasonable storms rage violently.
Losing one’s health, losing a precious loved one, or losing sight of the path one believed in.
In such times, how are we supposed to stand up once more?
The life of David Hockney was by no means filled with flat, uninterrupted radiance.
There was a sad era when the friends he loved passed away from this world one after another due to illness.
In the depths of loneliness and despair, he still did not put down his brush.
Because knowing the transience of fading life made him swear fiercely in his heart that he must fix the brilliance of life existing here and now into an “eternity” through the form of painting.
The natural landscapes he paints, the trees of spring budding with immense power, are overflowing with an overwhelming “Yes” to a life that overcomes death to be reborn.
“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair.”
── Apostle Paul (2 Corinthians 4:8)
This powerful phrase left by the Apostle Paul is the ultimate anthem of encouragement for David Hockney’s unyielding artistic soul, and for you, who are right now in the midst of a trial.
No matter what hardship assails you, no one can strip away your inner gaze or your heart that senses beauty.
Precisely because a person has been hurt and battered, they become capable of empathizing with the pain of others, looking upon the world with deeper, gentler eyes.
The reason David Hockney’s paintings are filled not just with cold intellect but with warm humanity is because he has enveloped all of these human weaknesses and sufferings within himself.
The tears you have shed will never be in vain.
They will surely transform into the most beautiful, radiant colors to adorn the canvas of your life.
The Strength and Purity of the Fool Who Pushes Blindly and Honestly Down a Single Path
In this world, there are many people who can skillfully handle anything and navigate life with shrewd efficiency.
On the other hand, there are those who obsess over a single thing, and while being treated as a “weirdo” or a “fool” by those around them, silently continue their work.
Which way of living do you find a more profound charm in?
David Hockney is without a doubt a person who possesses the spirit of the latter.
From morning until night, as the days come and go, he has poured his entire life, his entire time, solely into painting—into the act of seeing the world.
He had not a single second to spare for turning his eyes toward hobbies, entertainment, or the gossip of others.
To those around him, that figure might have looked like a stubborn, eccentric “painting maniac.”
Yet, that thorough purity and simple honesty was the sole key to bringing forth true masterpieces that no one else could reach.
“When a human being completely dedicates themselves to their calling, they understand for the first time true freedom and divine joy.”
── John Calvin
These strict words of the religious reformer Calvin overlap with astonishing beauty upon David Hockney’s way of working.
Staking all of one’s life on a single thing.
At first glance, this might seem like an incredibly unfree, lonely path.
However, it is precisely within that deep concentration that the authentic energy capable of shaking human psychology resides.
Ceasing to look away, drifting here and there, and instead moving steadily down the single path you believed in, day by day, like laying down bricks one by one.
Exerting all your power on the task before you with “instant decision, instant conclusion, instant execution.”
That honest power of continuation and the patience to never give up under any circumstances will ultimately carry you to a distant height that no one has ever seen.
What does it matter if others laugh at you?
You only need to turn that laughter into energy and become stronger, more beautiful.
An Eye to See the Unseen Truth Beyond, Unconfined by the Visible
We tend to let our hearts be stolen by visible, tangible things—money, status, and results that can be expressed in numbers.
However, the truly important things in this world are, more often than not, hidden within the “invisible.”
The paintings of David Hockney pull that very “invisible” element out in front of us using colors and lines.
The coldness of the air he paints, the warmth of the light, the quiet atmosphere flowing between people.
These are not physical substances visible to the naked eye, but the “truth” itself, which can only be captured by the eyes of the heart and soul.
Do not be deceived by superficial beauty.
You, too, should be able to learn the power to see through to the invisible essence from the works of this painter.
“Most people think of success as something to get, but real success is giving.”
── Henry Ford
This ultimate wisdom left by the automobile king Henry Ford fundamentally overturns the definition of true “richness” in David Hockney’s view of art, and in our own lives.
Nothing of true peace or emotion is ever born from owning or taking things from one another.
Just as David Hockney continues to generously give his magnificent discoveries of vision to the world, and to you, through his works.
You, too, should generously give and serve the precious person right in front of you with the kindness, honesty, and fruits of your earnest daily work.
When you learn the joy of giving, your heart will be completely liberated from all anxiety and loneliness.
The Endless Journey of Utmost, Life-Grinding Service to “You” Right Before My Eyes
Thank you so much for staying with my clumsy, yet life-grindingly desperate words up to this point.
I simply, truly wanted to bring joy to you who are right in front of me.
I wanted your heart to become even a little lighter, and the world starting tomorrow to look just a fraction more vivid.
Solely for that purpose, I have dedicated every rhythm and color of this text to you.
The work of an artist is not a shrewd, clever business.
It is an act of putting one’s skin in the game, carving away one’s soul, and offering everything to you right in front of them—the most clumsy, most luxurious behavior of a “clown.”
No matter how much I am laughed at by others, or called a fool, I will continue this desperate service just so I am not abandoned by you, just to have you accept me.
Simply because you are there, receiving my words, I am happier than I could ever express.
Please, continue to walk this endless journey of observation and expression together with me, one step at a time, cherishing it always.
There is someone waving from the other side of the river
A person whose name I do not know
Stuffed with blue skies in a torn pocket
Laughing toward me
Turning the hands of the clock backward
While playing whack-a-mole in the gap between yesterday and tomorrow
Singing that the secrets of the universe are hidden
Inside a pebble that no one glances at
Hey, you can hear it, can’t you
That strange sound of footsteps
That is the dance of the heart
For me, and for you
To be born anew
“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances.”
── 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 (New Testament)
“I have made a great many mistakes. However, I cannot bring myself to blame them on my own lack of talent or inability. I was always desperate.”
── Osamu Dazai
“Hey, why are you going on a trip?”
“Because it’s painful.”
“Your ‘painful’ is always the same old thing; I can’t trust it one bit.”
── From Osamu Dazai’s Tsugaru
Postscript
Lastly, please allow me to tell you a short story about a certain eccentric man.
There is a painter named Mimi Takamizawa who is very foolish, yet possesses an unyielding spirit.
He uses neither canvas nor brush.
Just as David Hockney picked up an iPad, he continues his creation silently and alone in the new wilderness called digital.
Then, using a cutting-edge technique called giclée printing, he fixes that digital data thoroughly onto the highest quality printmaking paper.
The themes Mimi Takamizawa paints are very close to home, yet profound.
“Your eyes, my eyes,” Christianity, eternity, truth, history, as well as loneliness, resurrection, and liberation.
He continuously paints “eyes” within his works.
Because he desperately wants to keep feeling “you,” who are right in front of his eyes—the owner of those gaze.
Wanting to know you, wanting to see your joyful face, he dedicates more than 12 hours every single day, offering his entire life to his work.
Mimi Takamizawa once learned the intense life story of Vincent van Gogh and resolved to become a painter himself.
The somewhat strange name “Mimi” (meaning “ear” in Japanese) was chosen by himself, honoring that famous ear-cutting incident of Van Gogh.
His talent as a painter might frankly be third-rate.
However, he knows the truth.
He knows that every masterpiece of the past was never painted through the inborn flashes of a genius, but was brought forth solely by decades of blood-soaked trial and error, and a mountain of accumulated obsession.
Just as Matsuo Basho said, “Ultimately having no talent and no art, I simply bind myself to this one line,” shaming his own lack of ability and talent while mastering a single path.
Mimi Takamizawa, too, exposes his own weakness while continuing to chase a single ray of light, solely for the sake of serving you right in front of him.
He holds Tokuji Munetsugu, the founder of CoCo Ichibanya, in the highest esteem.
During his time active in management, Mr. Munetsugu cut off all hobbies and friends, dedicating 5,640 hours a year solely to serving his customers.
Having walked a turbulent life of immense loneliness—even eating wild grass to stave off hunger during a destitute childhood—Mr. Munetsugu refused to listen to classical music, which had saved his unfortunate heart, while he was the manager, saying, “This is no time to be listening to such things.”
In the beginning, customers did not come at all, and he and his wife got through their lunches by eating the crusts of sandwich bread. Yet he laughed it off, saying, “Since we started from zero, those are rather good memories,” and he carried through his daily brick-laying efforts with instant decision, instant conclusion, and instant execution.
Mimi Takamizawa also stubbornly maintains this hands-on, customer-first policy of “never looking away, dedicating one’s life to the work” in his own creative field.
Valuable things, more often than not, lack immediate results.
That is why he does not give up easily.
Just as Sakichi Toyoda, the founder of Toyota, was ridiculed by those around him as an “invention maniac” or a “madman,” yet spent every day from morning until night making and breaking things, burning with the passion to make everyone’s lives easier through invention.
And just as his son, Kiichiro Toyoda, declared, “I do it because it is difficult. I do it because no one else does it, and no one else can do it. A fellow like me might be a fool, but if that fool isn’t there, nothing new will ever be born into the world,” building the foundation of the Japanese automobile industry with unyielding conviction.
Mimi Takamizawa, too, no matter how much he is treated as an eccentric or criticized by his surroundings, faces his digital screen for more than 12 hours a day, continuing to put his skin in the game to be a physician who saves your soul.
He is attempting to literally embody Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s phrase, “Skin in the game,” through his very way of living.
Because if he were to engage in deceptive trickery in this arena of art, this arena of desperate service as a clown, that itself would become a genuine fraud.
“If you see a fraud and do not say fraud, you are a fraud.”
That is why he is always 100 percent serious.
Here, there is one more precious story I must share with you.
Did you know that behind the genius painter Vincent van Gogh, who is loved all over the world, there existed an astonishingly wonderful, intelligent, and noble woman named Jo (Johanna van Gogh-Bonger)?
When Theo, Van Gogh’s younger brother who continuously supported him both financially and emotionally, passed away shortly after his brother as if to follow him, a massive volume of Vincent’s paintings, which were completely unacknowledged by society at the time, and the enormous amount of letters exchanged between the brothers were left in the hands of his young widow, Jo.
The people around her advised her, saying, “You should dispose of all those worthless, eerie paintings at once.”
However, Jo, who was a great reader and possessed immense intelligence, devoured the letters exchanged between the two brothers. As she did, she deeply resonated with Vincent’s sincere way of thinking as a painter and his pure prayer to “heartily comfort wounded people through painting.”
“In addition to the child, Theo left me another mission—to have Vincent’s work seen by many people and to have its true value recognized.”
Swearing this in her heart, her intense days of life-staked dedication began.
She organized numerous exhibitions for Van Gogh’s paintings when no one yet cared for them, wrote letters to critics, and above all, organized and published that massive collection of “Letters to Theo,” continuing to broadcast his art and philosophy to the world as a narrative.
If Van Gogh had not left his thoughts in the form of letters, and if there had not been a supreme communicator named Jo, this artist would have been completely buried in the darkness of history.
This is beautiful and exactly identical to the structure of how Christianity spread throughout the world because the Apostle Paul traveled to various places after the death of Jesus Christ, writing letters and risking his life to continue transmitting Jesus’s life and philosophy.
No matter how wonderful an “authentic thing” is, if there is no communicator to correctly explain its value and deliver it to people’s hearts, it becomes the same as not existing in this world.
The roles that Jo and Paul played were identical to, or even more sublime than, the work of those rare “geniuses of communication” in modern times, such as Steve Jobs, who transformed an innovative product no one had ever seen into an object of yearning for the entire world; Akio Morita of Sony; Takeo Fujisawa, who sold the Honda Super Cub all over the globe; or Shotaro Kamiya, who nurtured the Toyota Corolla into Japan’s national car.
Akio Morita once said:
“A product that has never been produced before, that no one has ever seen, but which has been painstakingly researched in some corner and manufactured after immense hardship. When trying to turn that product into a commodity, if you do not arouse the desire to possess that product among people, no matter how excellent a ‘product’ it may be, it can never become a ‘commodity’.”
Every painting by Mimi Takamizawa, and every desperate word I am writing to you, exists solely for the purpose of “reaching you and moving your heart.”
Mimi Takamizawa cannot live any longer if he is abandoned by you.
Only at that exact moment when the “eyes” he painted cross paths with your “eyes” can his soul be saved and achieve resurrection.
Please, watch over his clumsy yet life-staked figure of a clown with warm eyes, and laugh for him.
That very laughter is the finest nourishment that makes him infinitely strong and unyielding.
“Most people think of success as something to get, but real success is giving.”
── Henry Ford
“The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.”
── Agatha Christie
“See, I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death.”
── Moses (Jeremiah 21:8)
“Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them.”
── William Shakespeare
“Do not place your burden upon another. However, bearing the burden of another with them is the noblest duty of a human being.”
── The Talmud
“An artist must always be a person who hands over the joy found ‘here and now’ to others at the risk of their life.”
── Osamu Dazai
“I simply wanted to make you laugh. If my buffoonery could envelop your loneliness for even a single moment, there is no greater happiness than that.”
── Osamu Dazai
“Even if no one believes in you, you believe in yourself. That is the beginning of all miracles.”
── Osamu Dazai
“Never give in. Never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in.”
── Winston Churchill
“Have the courage to be the first, and to be different.”
── Ray Kroc
“I was an overnight success all right, but 30 years is a long, long night.”
── Ray Kroc
“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.”
── Walt Disney
“Iron rusts from disuse; stagnant water loses its purity and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so inaction saps the vigors of the mind.”
── Leonardo da Vinci
To you who have read through to the very end, with my deepest gratitude from the bottom of my soul.
Thank you truly, so very much.