Gary Hume

Born in 1962, Gary Hume emerged as one of the leading figures of the group of young artists working in London in the 1990s, known as the YBAs. After graduating from Goldsmiths College, London, in 1988, he achieved early success with paintings based on hospital doors, rendered with gloss on panel and displayed in groups of four. Despite their international success, Hume abandoned the formal manoeuvring of the door series in the early 1990s, in favour of a simple, flat figurative and abstract paintings, featuring startling colour combinations and appropriated images ranging from animals to celebrities to flowers. Hume was nominated for the Turner Prize in 1996, represented Britain at the Venice Biennale in 1999, and was elected a Royal Academician in 2001. His work has been the subject of a number of monographic shows in UK and Europe. Published to coincide with the joint exhibition Gary Hume and Patrick Caulfield at Tate Britain in June 2013, this book will include thirty paintings by Hume that concentrate on his more edgier-side, encompassing works from almost 20 years of his career as well brand new pieces. Including an introductory essay by Katharine Stout and an essay by US art writer Jack Bankowsky, this concise account of Hume's work is a timely addition to the bibliography of this important British contemporary painter.