Gary Hume

by Gary Hume, Adrian Searle

In the 80s, Gary Hume became a star of the Young British Art (YBA) movement virtually overnight. His Doors series, which brought him this early success, are based on real doors found in public institutions like hospitals and schools, but Hume represents them sparsely and richly, liberally borrowing strategies from the color field and hard-edge abstraction movements. Beyond doors, Hume has depicted windows, flora, fauna and Michael Jackson, all in his trademark technique of using commercial house paint poured onto aluminum panels. The effect is one of brilliant luster, in which slick smooth surfaces of high-gloss paint reveal embedded relief drawings. The Bird Has a Yellow Beak features a retrospective selection of approximately 70 works, including many never-before-published drawings. Heavy glossy varnish coatings over the reproductions convey an appealing sense of the crucial surfaces of Hume's paintings.

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999