Gary Hume paints large abstract paintings of people and everyday life in high gloss enamel paint and impasto. His highly simplified and often very poignant as well as sensual shapes with expressive use of colour (seen first at the joint exhibition with Philip Caulfield at the Tate Modern in 2013) have influenced my work in:
2.4 A Rose by another name: Phlomis
4.1: Caricature and Character: Bob Geldof
It is also a style to which I aspire in some of my flat digital illustrations in Sketchclub.
Speaking about his work at an exhibition titled ‘Indifferent Owl’ in 2012 he says:
‘Where I live in New York, there’s a wood. I heard an owl in the night. Next day I found one of those “Happy Birthday” balloons caught in the trees. It had almost deflated. I imagined the owl, utterly indifferent, watching the balloon float by as it slowly collapsed. That’s how I see life. I’m the owl, totally disengaged as the balloon bobs by…
Sources
STOUT, K. (ed.) 2013. Gary Hume, London: Tate Publishing.