David Hockney is a well-known contemporary painter who likes to give the impression that he came to photography almost casually; as if the camera was just something he picked up when he wasn't doing anything more important. Nevertheless, the photo-composites he produced in the '70's and '80's, using both Polaroid and conventional films, are visually complex and conceptually provocative. These pieces, often deceptively playful, sometimes downright silly, conflate the principles of optics with the dictates of Cubism, challenging our preconceptions about photographic space and dimensionality with multiple points of view, paradoxical focus and dislocation. KB

Covering Photography is a web-based archive and resource for the study of the relationship between the history of photography and book cover design. Read more about the project.