In this remarkable book a record of a decade of private conversations with art critic Martin Gayford David Hockney reveals via reflection anecdote passion & humour the fruits of his lifelong meditations on the problems & paradoxes of representing a three-dimensional world on a flat surface. These conversations are punctuated by wise & witty observations from both parties on numerous other artists & enlivened by shrewd insights into the contrasting social & physical landscapes of California where Hockney spent so many years & Yorkshire the birthplace to which he has returned. Some of the diverse people he has encountered along the way from Henri Cartier-Bresson to Billy Wilder make entertaining entries into the dialogue.