60 years and running

British artist David Hockney pose with A Bigger Book during the book fair in Frankfurt, Germany. [Photo provided to China Daily]

With the launch of a large book on him, British artist David Hockney becomes toast of the book fair, Mei Jia reports in Frankfurt.

'This is my mother ... (and) this is the Las Vegas splash," David Hockney tells an excited crowd at the recent Frankfurt Book Fair while speaking about the subjects of his artworks as he turns the pages of a new book about him.

Wearing a white flap cap, the 79-year-old legendary British artist stands in front of the massive book while reminiscing about his lifetime of creation.

"There's lots of books on my work ... (but) this book has everything," Hockney says of a new publication on him.

David Hockney, A Bigger Book has been published by Taschen.

The Cologne-headquartered publisher calls books like this－50 cm by 70 cm, and weighing 35 kilograms－"sumo books", taking after the image of Japanese wrestlers.

The large book contains 450 works that Hockney has himself selected, from his "swimming pool splash" paintings to photographs and drawings on handheld devices.

It's a "definitive visual autobiography", as the publisher calls it, covering 64 years of Hockney's career from his teenage days at the Bradford School of Art and his heydays in 1960s London to his paintings of swimming pools in Los Angeles a decade later and his drawings now.

The 10,000 numbered copies have all been signed by him, and each is being sold with an adjustable bookstand by designer Marc Newson.