The Desk, July 1st 1984

A desk opens across a collage of photographs made from different positions. Its surfaces belong to a walk around the subject rather than a single camera view.

Open the source reproduction and trace the two sides of the desk. Notice how the tabletop spreads and how you can see its top and front together. Follow the joins between photographs and imagine the changes of position needed to make them.

Individual photographs preserve their own camera views. Hockney arranges them into a larger picture with changing viewpoints and scale, allowing the desk to expand away from the viewer. The collage records attention and movement across a subject rather than one optical instant.