A Couple of weeks ago when it was quite inside Tate Britain I went and see Gary Hume's exhibition. Most people where visiting the other exhibition by LS Lawry who painted the masses, the working class in England during the Industrial Revolution. To enter the exhibition room I had to use the entrance doors created by himself called; How to paint a door which I thought was fun thought I didn't noticed them first when I went in as I was so spaced out ( I mean they are bright pink) I only notice them when I came out from the same entrance afterwards.
How to Paint a door 2013 Gary Hume
Gary Hume explores emotional themes such as joy, melancholy, loss etc and he questions in his paintings the conventional notions of beauty sometimes combined a dark edge for example in paintings such as in Young Mother & Child 2002 & Beautiful 2001 where Michael Jackson's nostrils are combined with Kate Moss's face (can you see it?).
Young Mother & Child 2002 Gary Hume
Beautiful 2001 Gary Hume
I found his work in the exhibition to be over all visually pleasing & it made me think of illustrations, graphic work with simplified forms combined with contrasting colours general use of gloss paint not on canvas but on aluminium panels. Also one can not see brush work just smooth surface and sometimes he uses layers of thick paint like in the work The Whole World.
Blackbird 1998 Gary Hume
Gary Hume uses imagery from reproductions in books and magazines he starts from a figurative drawing and then he abstracts his compositions for example in the work Orchid 2004 & Green Nicola 2003 where artist Nichola Tyson is changed abstracted into a rare flower again made with bold contrasting colours and face is dark. He seemed to me that Gary Hume doesn't want you to know as a viewer what you are looking, what exactly is going on but at the same time he is not interested in narrative. Also his work show a fondness for flatness rather then perspective, less is more in his work.
Orchid 2004 Gary Hume
I did notice that he makes portraits of famous people which made me think he is well connected, he did study at Goldsmith University at the same time as other well know YBA's such as Hirst, Sarah Lucas, Matt Collishaw and his gloss painted doors where initially bought by Charles Saatchi.
Again I did find fun, playful the sculpture called: the Snowman (a childhood image perhaps) which yes you can imagine features a snowman but it's a bronze sculpture painted with enamel paint it seems Gary Hume put his own stamp on a traditional method; bronze and gave it an all together new life with the use of white enamel on top, the same as he did with the doors by painting them with household paint. I would have liked to have seen the sculpture outdoors.
The Snowman 2000 Gary Hume
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