LONDON, July 9 (Xinhua) -- A huge party in a public park in the English city of Bradford celebrated Sunday the 80th birthday of David Hockney who has been described as Britain's greatest living painter.
A permanent gallery dedicated to the life and work of David Hockney has also opened this weekend at the city's cultural center, Cartwright Hall. Recent exhibitions of Hockney's work have drawn record-breaking crowds to the Tate and the Royal Academy in London.
Partygoers to Lister Park were able to enjoy a feast of art, fun and food at the park, with a puppet parade, a Hockney-themed birthday cake and rides on a vintage bus.
Hockney was born in Bradford, Yorkshire, and studied at the city's school of art before winning international acclaim for his work. He now lives in Los Angeles, the United States, so was unable to be at the party thrown in his honor.
Elsewhere in the city, a new piece of public art has been unveiled featuring the world's first colored nail sculpture in an area in the city known as Little Germany. The work shows images of Hockney, created using 250,000 nails which took artist Marcus Levine 18 months to complete. The sculpture measuring 5 meters by 4 meters weighs almost three-quarters of a ton.
Levine said: "When we were first talking about this piece of art 18 months ago, we never realized the journey it was going to take. With it being his 80th birthday we decided to do David Hockney. We thought it would be brilliant for Bradford."
Bradford's culture chief, Councillor Sarah Ferriby, said: "The work of David Hockney is world renowned, and it is fitting that there should be such an innovative piece of artwork as a lasting celebration of his life's work in his home city."
Hockney learned his craft in his home city, often carrying his art materials around the city in a baby's pram as he painted on the streets. Some of his early paintings of street scenes, launderettes and markets, which he did while he was a student at Bradford School of Art, are included in the new gallery of Hockney's work at Cartwright Hall.
Hockney has opened up his personal photo albums, releasing never-before-seen photos for the new exhibition.
The exhibition covers his progression from a local lad sketching stuffed birds in Cartwright Hall to an internationally famous artist perfecting new techniques on an iPad.
The new gallery space brings together Bradford's public art collection of Hockney's work, including his famous 1978 work Le Plongeur which is just one of his artworks exploring his fascination with swimming pools after his arrival in Los Angeles in the 1960s.
Hockney said in a statement: "I used to love going to Cartwright Hall as a kid. It was the only place in Bradford I could see real paintings."
Curator Jill Iredale, who met Hockney to discuss the new gallery exhibition said Hockney had a close connection with Cartwright Hall from when he was a child.
"The first times he came were with his parents bringing him here. They had a really strong belief that education was important and his father was particularly interested in art," said Iredale.
Hockney's work is on show at a number of internationally renowned galleries, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the National Gallery of Australia.
