Today, readers of The Sun will find the masthead of the newspaper has suffered a transformation. The redesign comes courtesy of none other than David Hockney, who agreed to this one-off collaboration as he prepares for the opening of his hotly-anticipated retrospective at Tate Britain next week.
Owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch, The Sun is a staple of British culture, having one of the largest circulations of any daily newspaper in the UK. Yet, its populist right wing bias, flair for sensational headlining, and penchant for nudity (through its famous “Page 3 girls”) make The Sun anathema to those with certain intellectual, and liberal, ambitions.
Not so for Hockney, who, according to the Guardian, was delighted to have been asked by the famous tabloid, of which he declared himself a “life-long fan.”
The 79-year-old artist’s redesign, made using an iPad like some of his recent drawings, has kept the main features of the banner, but he has added a hand-drawn sun and some black shadows beneath the logo’s white block letters.
“Once I thought about the idea, it didn’t take me long. The sun and The Sun. I love it,” he said.
“Nothing demonstrates the enduring position of the Sun in British culture like having Britain’s most-loved living artist redesign our logo,” said Tony Gallagher, editor-in-chief of The Sun.
“We’re immensely proud that we can offer Sun readers their own David Hockney, and incredibly grateful that he chose our newspaper.”
On top of the one-off Hockney redesign, the February 3 edition of the newspaper also features an in-depth interview with the artist ahead of his Tate Britain survey.
The exhibition, which is set to become one of the cultural blockbusters of the season, will open to the public on February 9, and it will feature over 250 works spanning Hockney’s long and stellar career.