Gary Hume: American Tan (paintings)
45-year-old Gary Hume a British post-pop painter, paints glossy ambiguous images on aluminum. His recent show at White Cube in London, features extremely cropped images of cheerleaders mid twirl, leap, and split.
It takes your eye a moment to recognize the body parts within the flat swaths of color, line and form. Thus, they become enigmatic, distilled down to their essential details causing the viewer to furrow their brow in concentration trying to decipher not only the pose and limb but also the tension of who and what we are looking at.
A cheerleader is so familiar and such a part of our visual lexicon but Hume imbues each figure with mystery, decontextualizing them while at the same time taking away the usual objectification of the female subject on his sleek aluminum surface.
Here’s a comprehensive article about the show and Gary Hume that fellow art lover/blogger Mike sent my way knowing I’d dig. Thanks Mike!
Barbara Feinman Millinery on the Lower Eastside of Manhattan. Never fear out of towners you can shop online for yourself or your chic lady friend!
