the internet is not happy with david hockney’s redesign for the london tube

the mayor of london sadiq khan has launched a campaign titled let’s do london which aims to encourage both londoners and visitors back into the center of the city. to kick it off, a new public installation by david hockney — one of the UK’s most influential living artists — has taken over the piccadilly circus station. following some days, the internet has had its word on it, and seems like people are not very happy about it.

images via mayor of london’s twitter account

for the let’s do london campaign, david hockney has redesigned TfL’s iconic roundel at piccadilly circus and has turned it into the hockney circus. the artist’s reinterpretation sees the iconic logo rendered in yellow and purple, in a design that resembles sketches made with microsoft paint. it also seems as if hockney ran out of space and had to place the ’s’ in ‘circus’ below. once the mayor of london shared the pictures on his twitter account, the internet started to mercilessly troll it.

from ‘god, that’s shit’ to ‘it looks like a contest entry from a toddler: design a logo combining mcdondals and burger king’, twitter users did not skimp their opinions. other complained about the fact that with so many artist living in london, why did they go with hockney who is in fact, the country’s most well-known. ‘it’s a shame london isn’t packed w. creative artists who’ve had a really rough year and could’ve used both the money and the exposure this would provide, while also being a brilliant showcase for the city’s diversity, pride and passion.’ to be fair, artnet reported hockney created the illustration for free.

Bollock
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— Ross McGinnes (@rossmcginnes) May 11, 2021

London: “David, you said you’d have something to us by today?”

*crashing noise*

London: “David? Are you there?”

*panicked scribbling sounds*

David Hockney: “Yes, yes. Just sending it…”

— Luke Benson (@Mr_LukeBenson) May 11, 2021

pic.twitter.com/weTj7CrV52

— Rick Burin (@rickburin) May 11, 2021

Ah it’s a shame London isn’t packed w. creative artists who’ve had a really rough year and could’ve used both the money and the exposure this would provide, while also being a brilliant showcase for the city’s diversity, pride and passion.

(Also, these are shit. You’ve been had)

— Ben Stephens (@stephens_ben) May 11, 2021