Public Life
Like his father, Hockney was a conscientious objector, and worked as a medical orderly in hospitals during his National Service, 1957–59.
Hockney was a founder of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles in 1979. He serves on the advisory board of the political magazine Standpoint, and contributed original sketches for its launch edition, in June 2008.
He is a staunch pro-tobacco campaigner and was invited to guest-edit the Today programme on 29 December 2009 to air his views on the subject.
In October 2010, he and a hundred other artists signed an open letter to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Jeremy Hunt protesting against cutbacks in the arts.
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Famous quotes related to public life:
“You know, Mr. Secretary, I have found out in the course of a long public life that the things I did not say never hurt me.”
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)