Legislature Jumps In to Save David Hockney Pool Painting

A David Hockney paint job on the bottom of the Hollywood Roosevelt’s swimming pool has been saved by legislative intervention.

The work by the successful British-born artist is a simple one, created in just four hours last year as part of the landmark hotel’s renovation, and features a pattern of crescent-like marks that have been variously described as swimming parentheses and giant apostrophes.

But the painting was ordered removed by county officials last year because it violates state safety laws requiring unadorned swimming pool bottoms. A hubbub over the impending cover-up of the design erupted among state lawmakers, and a gallery owner familiar with Hockney’s high-priced artworks let it be known that the pool painting might be worth as much as $1 million, if it were somehow to be sold.

Enter Assemblyman Mike Roos (D-Los Angeles), who recently pronounced Hockney’s effort a “singular work of art” threatened by “misapplied bureaucratic regulations.” Roos, at the urging of City Councilman Michael Woo, authored a bill exempting the painting from the safety law, which was designed to make it easier to spot a swimmer in trouble.

Last week, Gov. George Deukmejian signed the bill.