The walls of each space within this exhibition are key to the experience of the colours in Hockney’s work. This is not a plain white box experience – each space gives its own unique backdrop to the work with rooms painted entirely in Lilac or Grey or Burgundy allowing the colours to feel all the more vibrant. Proof, if proof were needed, that Art should not be exclusively hung on white walls.

As you move through the rooms, his work goes from dark drawings to stark colourful modernism, Impressionism to futurism, rural to exotic and back again. He moves between different media with a playful excitement that is infectious. He captures moments that can feel so retro and personal but also universal.

Seeing his approach to the nude male form is somehow confrontational because of its honesty. He never shies away, he doesn’t care for shame (a big current problem in gay culture), it is unclear whether he intends to be a trailblazer or not, because he just presents himself and moments in his life to you with an honesty that is still so fresh. The clarity is what makes it so powerful.

The most powerful of all for us was his May Blossom. It brings together many elements of his work in such a beautiful way. It’s at subject matter is quintessential English rural, painted in an impressionistic style and in such bold colours that belong more to his more exotic work, making it seem like a surreal alien landscape. A futuristic glimpse of life on Mars. Colour can have that strong an effect on the subject.

He deftly reinvents himself as technology offers new opportunity, with his work on paper, then canvas, in Polaroid, then video, then iPad. It inspires us to keep moving forward as designers, keep growing, learning and evolving.

Seeing his work all together you see the artists process and progression and it is inspiring in itself to see someone at the height of their game who is still prepared to push their own boundaries and try something new. Always fresh. Always growing. Succeeding more powerfully at times than at others but unafraid to experiment. Remaining playful and inquisitive but always honest.