Gary Hume (born 1962, England) emerged in the early ‘nineties as one of the foremost figures on the YBA (Young British Artists) scene, notably with his involvement in the exhibitions “Brilliant!” and “Sensations”. A graduate of Goldsmiths College in 1988, he had a joint show with Damien Hirst, was supported by Charles Saatchi, nominated for the Turner Prize in 1996, and represented the United Kingdom at the Venice Biennale in 1999. Hume was admitted to the Royal Academy in 2001. Immediately recognizable for the gloss painting technique that he has made his own, Gary Hume was originally known for his series of “Doors” paintings. Despite the international success of these hospital doors coated in gloss on panel, which were as much minimalist as abstract art, Hume abandoned this series to concentrate on more figurative work. Working around grand motifs from art history such as the nude, the portrait, still-life compositions, and flowers, or themes connected to the world of childhood, Hume created his own, distinct iconography. With this collection that he has been cultivating for twenty years, ideas of structure, surface, and colour can be linked to the Pop Art tradition, as a reflection on celebrity figures (Michael Jackson and Kate Moss) and on contemporary American culture (as with his series on the figure of the American Cheerleader).

Gary Hume

Young British Artist Gary Hume is best known for exuberant, Pop-inflected works which he makes with high-gloss, household enamel paint on aluminum panels.

Like a number of the Impressionist artists at the end of the 19th Century, Gary Hume took his inspiration for Two Roses from the Ukiyo-e tradition. Literally meaning “pictures of the floating world”, this Japanese movement was discovered in the West via the woodblock prints that made it famous and also through the patterned paper that wrapped the porcelain and other goods coming out of Asia.

Gary Hume took up this labour-intensive traditional method and chose to use the inks created directly from the pigments (Cadmium Red Light, Cadmium Red Medium, Cadmium Yellow Light, Pencil Clay and Ultramarine Violet) printed several times onto fine rice paper hand-made from 100% Kozo fibre, which gives the artwork an exceptionally luminous quality. Two Roses demonstrates with great subtlety, the ambivalence of flora: at once fragile, light and delicate but also intense and magnificently present thanks to the striking colour of these two red roses, sublime at the peak of their bloom.

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“ Two roses with a lilac area of disappointment. „

—Gary Hume