Born in Bradford in 1937, studied at the Bradford College of Art and at the Royal College. Won the Royal College of Art Gold Medal, the Guinness Award for Etching, First Prize at the Craven Image Exhibition and a prize in the Junior Section of the John Moores Exhibition, Liverpool. In 1963 was awarded a prize at the Paris Biennale and had his first one-man exhibition in London at the Kasmin Gallery. He has enjoyed great international and popular success from the early 1960's.

While studying at the Royal College, he achieved distinction as an engraver with The Rake's Progress which combined Hogarth's narrative and Hockney's experience from his first visit to New York. From the time of the Young Contemporaries exhibition in London in 1960, his work has been much sought after by collectors and art connoisseurs. A painting which was priced at £500 at the Kasmin Gallery in 1966, sold at Sotheby's in 1974 for £25,000.

He figured in the exhibition Pop Art in England, 1976 in Hamburg, Munich and York City. Taught at Maidstone College of Art and held teaching posts from 1963 throughout the United States. Between 1963 and 1967 he settled in California, which resulted in paintings of Californian subjects, culminating in A Bigger Splash of 1967. His work moved towards naturalism, interrupted in 1966 by a famous series of etchings, Illustrations for fourteen poems from C P Cavafy. From 1968-1971 he painted portraits of his friends and in 1969 made another series of etchings, Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm.

Hockney has been classified as a 'pop artist', a label which he rejects. However, art critic, Edward Lucie-smith, wrote that 'His life-style was instantly famous; his dyed blond hair, owlish glasses and gold lame jacket created.. a persona which appealed even to people who were not vitally interested in painting ..'

Later in his career, his work developed more towards realism. He is a superb natural draughtsman and distinguishes himself by his versatility. He combines figurative representation with verbal puns and allusions, and geometrical pattern. He avoided creating an illusion of reality and aimed at all times for clarity and accessibility. Major influences have been Picasso, Kitaj and Dubuffet.