Novelist builds Hockney-inspired dream home in Beverly Hills

 Artist David Hockney is famous for his acrylic pool paintings inspired by his trips to California. And in an unusual case of life reflecting art, Jackie Collins, the author of 30 novels, including “Hollywood Wives” and “Lucky,” has modeled her Beverly Hills home after Hockney’s work.

“In 1989, my husband Oscar [Lerman] and I visited an art gallery in London, where we saw Mr. Hockney’s “A Bigger Splash.” I couldn’t take my eyes off the pool and fell in love with the clean lines, suspended splash and overall tranquility,” Collins told the Wall Street Journal. “Within days, I was sketching a design for a new home that wrapped around a pool based on the one in the painting.”

Collins hired Ardie Tavangarian of Arya Group, who has worked with architect Richard Meier, for the project. Together they developed a 25,000-square-foot white modern home around a Hockney-esque pool. The two-story house took a full three years to build.

“I’m a measuring queen. I know exactly what I want, how high it should be, how far apart and precisely where things should be placed. You can’t leave these details to others,” Collins said. “From ceilings and sinks to shelves and phone and computer outlets, they all had to be just so.” [WSJ] –Christopher Cameron