Studio Sunday: Painter Gary Hume
On today’s Studio Sunday, we’re looking inside the studio space of London-based artist Gary Hume. Hume is notable for his paintings in which he uses glossy house paint. His painting use large, flat shapes of colour, layered over one another to create reductive, yet representational images.
The first thing I notice about Hume’s studio, located in London, is the big shelf against the wall that’s stuffed with paints! A huge selection of cans of house paint, many of them open or half-used, line the wall of Hume’s studio. It would be great to be able to have all of my paints right beside me at all times, accessible whenever inspiration struck. Hume’s studio looks big and well lit, but also messy, like a space that the artist spends a lot of time in, working and experimenting. When not in London, Hume also has a studio in New York. Splitting his time between these two great centres for modern art, Hume must have access to a number of artist and gallery contacts to help him produce and promote his artwork.
As a relatively young artist, Hume is often associated with the Young British Artists, a group who came to prominence in the UK art scene in the 1990s. Hume’s work, while sharing the bright colours that are favoured by many of his contemporaries, is somehow quieter, focusing on clean, simple forms, and large amounts of negative space.