Gary Hume: 2 at Sprüth Magers, Berlin

Gary Hume: 2 at Sprüth Magers, Berlin

Gary Hume’s exhibition 2 at Sprüth Magers Berlin presents new works by the artist this September. For the artist’s second solo show in Berlin, the gallery will showcase an intimate series of works on paper, to be displayed for the very first time, completed by the addition of gloss paint upon the glass of the frame. These multi-layered compositions will be shown alongside three recent paintings on aluminium.

Renowned for his large-scale paintings which use high gloss paint to create planes of industrial colour, Gary Hume’s principal thematic concerns are colour and light and formal ambiguity, while his subject matter ranges from friends, family and celebrities, to motifs drawn from nature and childhood. Recognisable images, sometimes sourced from magazines or snapshots and often of a personal, sentimental nature are schematized, abbreviated and silhouetted almost to the point of abstraction so that the original source material is rarely traceable within the final work.

2 will bring together a selection of works on paper, created between 2008 – 2010. The charcoal sketches were put aside until recently when the artist had the idea of adding to the existing works by painting the glass of their frames. The monochrome drawings are thus enlivened with colour and texture, imbuing certain details of the earlier compositions with increased significance. The works reveal a further experimentation with paint on different surfaces, as well as highlighting Hume’s interest in the issues of repetition and process in artistic production. Also on show will be three small-format works painted on aluminum. Hume’s signature bright colours are given extra luminosity through the use of gloss paint on the metal surface. In Red Column (2012) the impenetrable fields of red and beige colour evoke mid century abstraction while illustrating the artist’s intrigue in the fluid, highly reflective qualities of gloss paint. Hume adopts a darker, more somber palette in the portrait Untitled (2012). Here line is articulated as thin ridges of paint, which disrupt the surface of the expanse of colour, acting as walls or dams between different areas of paint, and tracing the outline of the facial features of a person.

Gary Hume, 8 September until 20 October, Sprüth Magers, Oranienburger Straße 18, D-10178 Berlin. www.spruethmagers.com

Credits:

1. Gary Hume, Red Column, 2012, copyright Gary Hume. Courtesy Sprüth Magers Berlin London
2. Gary Hume, 2, 2012, copyright Gary Hume. Courtesy Sprüth Magers Berlin London
3. Gary Hume, Untitled, 2008/12, copyright Gary Hume. Courtesy Sprüth Magers Berlin London
4. Gary Hume, Unititled, 2012, copyright Gary Hume. Courtesy Sprüth Magers Berlin London
5. Gary Hume, Untitled, 2008/12, copyright Gary Hume. Courtesy Sprüth Magers Berlin London