Gary Hume Biography

Gary Hume is a prominent British artist who rose to fame as one of the Young British Artists in the early 1990s, alongside Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst.

Hume studied at Goldsmiths under Michael Craig Martin and his work was included in the Freeze exhibition organised by Hirst in 1988 that brought a number of artists, including Ian Davenport and Sarah Lucas to the attention of the art world.

Hume is best-known for abstract and figurative high gloss paintings of everyday objects on aluminium panels, most notably hospital doors. His work juxtaposes beauty and pleasure, with melancholy and a sense of loss.

Hume was nominated for the Turner Prize in 1996, won the Jerwood Painting Prize in 1997, and went on to represent Great Britain at the Venice Biennale in 1999.