Gary Hume

PINK RED SMOKE

2005

British artist Gary Hume paints distinctively flat, electrically hued canvases that collectors and viewers easily discern as his work. With strong elements of Pop art, intertwined with abstract and Surrealist elements, he depicts familiar objects and people, often in distorted poses or bearing exaggerated characteristics.

Hume practices focused experimentation. He fully immerses himself into a set of ideas and techniques, creating numerous variations on a theme. After he's satisfied that he's gone as far as with a topic, he moves on to new motifs and materials. In all his work, he invites viewers to contemplate themselves as they ponder a piece. 

Born in Tenterden, England, Hume attended Homewood School, a secondary school that specializes in media and visual arts on top of a standard public education and, in 1988, graduated from Goldsmiths College in London.

In the 1990s, he joined the Young British Artists (YBA), a disparate group of creators including Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin, that mostly came out of Goldsmiths, with a mission to propagate the “Cool Britannia” cultural movement.

In his early career, Hume received acclaim for a series of door life-size paintings (and, later, rugs) depicting hospital doors. He soon pivoted to painting animals on aluminum sheets, and followed his fancy into a number of other disparate projects. In 2005, he reprised the door theme with the twist of anthropomorphizing these otherwise still-life subjects and setting them up in pairs to represent lovers.

Hume has shown in numerous exhibitions over the course of his career. Including shows in museums and galleries in Italy, Germany, Austria and Oxford. He was nominated for Britain's Turner Prize in 1996 and won the British Jerwood Prize in 1997. He's since gone on to present at many more exhibitions and win various awards, including his election to the level of Royal Academician in 2001.

Hume currently lives and works between London and New York State, where he continues to explore new projects and produce new and exciting art.

On 1stDibs, find a selection of Gary Hume paintings, sculptures and mixed-media art.