This work was published on the occasion of David Hockney: A Retrospective, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, June 18th - August 14th 1988

David Hockney's colour copier works from this period were printed entirely by the artist, made by passing the sheets repeatedly through the copier - one pass for each colour and pattern. By building up the printed surface in this way, Hockney ensured that the machine would focus on no more than a single colour at any time. The result of this process is a brightness of colouration that could not be achieved when attempting to copy the entire sheet at once, a request which forces the machine to compromise with visible consequences.

Of this new generation of office copiers the artist stated "The colours from the Canon machine were intense and very, very close to the originals. But what was it, this copy? A photograph but not a photograph? A copy without a conventional camera .... However, unlike a colour photograph, where the colours seem to exist beneath the surface of the print itself, here was colour which sat on top of the paper, giving it an incredible luminosity."

Example 1/70 from this edition is held in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Accession Number: 1988.1094, Gift of the artist

Example 11/70 from this edition is retained in the collection of the David Hockney Foundation

Example 29/70 from this edition is held in the permanent collection of the Vero Beach Museum of Art, Vero Beach, Florida, Accession Number: 1991.011, Gift of William H. and Virginia S. Risley