Today Spoleto Festival director Nigel Redden revealed this year’s festival poster, a colorful image from artist David Hockney, entitled “Hither and Dither.” The painting, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 96″, was first shown publicly at the Pace Gallery in New York as part of the exhibit, David Hockney: Something New in Painting (and Photography) [and even Printing].

In a press release Redden said, “In addition to being a prolific painter, David has created a number of set and costume designs for opera houses worldwide.” This is the third festival poster that Hockney has created for Spoleto festivals; his first appeared on the 1976 Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy.

Our hot take on the poster? We dig it — the bright colors and the manic running around of stick figures is fun, and is probably a fair representation of what we’ll look like, bopping from show to show in just a couple of weeks.

If you want to see a rundown of posters past — a.k.a the ones former editor Chris Haire found to be the most appalling — enjoy the roundup, from 2015’s bong-like image to 2013’s minimalist, err, etch-a-sketch design.

Oh yeah, and get pumped for Spoleto — we are officially two weeks away from kickoff.


Help keep the City Paper free.

No paywalls.
No newspaper subscription cost.
Free delivery at 800 locations from downtown to North Charleston to Johns Island to Summerville to Mount Pleasant.

Help support independent journalism by donating today.