This portrait of the British artist David Hockney depicts him lying on a wooden structure, propping himself up on his left elbow so that his face is turned towards the camera. The picture was taken on Fire Island in New York State, possibly at The Pines, a gay resort where Hockney is known to have spent the summers of 1975 and 1976. Hockney’s pose, and in particular his wide-mouthed yawn, lend the image a light-hearted and spontaneous quality. However, Mapplethorpe has arranged the composition carefully; the lines and planes of the timbers and railings create a highly formal, abstracted structure in, and against which, the figure is positioned.