Known for his distinctive gloss-on-aluminum paintings, Gary Hume has over the past three decades become recognized as a restless innovator and a supreme colorist. His upcoming exhibition at the London gallery, Archipelago, features eight new paintings and a body of works on paper, hung directly onto the wall, unframed. While Hume is renowned for exploring a traditional painter's repertoire of subjects such as birds, flowers and the human body, in Archipelago Hume casts his eye on the humanitarian crises of the present era.
The paintings are mostly uniform in color, with spaces and a range of shapes, sometimes in different hues, amidst the interlaced lines, and the paintings appear mostly abstract. Hume creates a paradox: The surface of the paintings can be lush and seductive, even while the lifejacket form is visible as a ghostly presence. The "Archipelago" paintings seek a way to respond to tragedy while also responding to his medium's demand to create an object of contemplation.