Bradford went all out to celebrate the 80th birthday of David Hockney this weekend, with the unveiling of a new sculpture, the opening of a new gallery featuring his work and a huge party.

The artist, who was born in the city and now lives in Los Angeles, is considered by many to be the best living painter in the world, and he celebrated his birthday today.

Although he didn’t make it to his hometown, Bradford did plenty to celebrate in his absence.

On Friday the David Hockney Gallery opened in Cartwright Hall. It features famous and some lesser seen works by the artist, and notebooks and albums looking at his past. The gallery has already attracted over 2,000 visitors.

See 38 pictures in our alternative 'Hockney' gallery

Saturday saw the unveiling of a huge portrait of Hockney by artist Marcus Levine, made out of coloured nails. Installed on the side of a building in Little Germany, the piece is 16ft high, 12ft wide, and weighs almost three-quarters of a ton. The 250,000 nails that make up the artist’s portrait were hammered into a base of lacquered marine plywood and fixed onto the wall.

It is the world’s first coloured nail sculpture, and the hope is that the huge work will become a massive draw, bringing visitors to Little Germany.

The work is mounted on the external wall of a commercial building at the junction of Chapel Street and Peckover Street.

And today local arts group The Brick Box organised Happy Birthday Hockney - a huge party in Lister Park to celebrate the momentous day. It featured actors dressed as Hockney, a parade featuring a giant puppet Hockney and sausage dogs, a Hockney brass band and even a mass “happy birthday” sing along. There was also a dance floor outside Cartwright Hall, where dancers were “Hocknified.”

The Tattooed Bakers created two cakes for the occasion - a 3D re-creation of one of the artist’s self portraits, and the other a huge re-creation of A Bigger Splash. The cake was so big it was able to be shared out among over 1,000 people.

Jill Iredale, curator at the new gallery, said: "The cake was huge, I think it had 164 eggs in the one cake.

"The cake of his self portrait was done so realistically, the bakers even scanned the newspaper he had used for that particular self portrait to make sure they got the newsprint right.

"The gallery has been really busy so far, we've had 1,000 people visit today alone."

Eleanor Barrett, co founder of The Brick Box, said: "It is lovely to see so many people out here, it has felt like his birthday has been celebrated in a real Bradford way. People in the city know how to have a good party. 

"It is great to see such a mixed audience too, there are so many different generations here.

"Although Hockney couldn't make it, he was here in spirit."

Bradford Council leader Susan Hinchcliffe said: "We wanted to do something special to celebrate such a significant birthday of one of Bradford's greatest sons.

"I'm really pleased that people are joining in with these events. Happy Birthday David Hockney!"