Gary Hume

Globally renowned artist and Royal Academician, Gary Hume, was been commissioned, as part of Art in Mayfair, to design over 30 flags to be suspended over Bond Street. His figurative and abstract work, combined with a startling colour palette, have resulted in the flags being a vibrant focal point of Art in Mayfair’s celebration of creativity.

Gary Hume graduated from Goldsmith’s College, London in 1988. His first group exhibitions were held the same year in London, one at Karsten Schubert Ltd, and the other at Damien Hirst’s Freeze: Part II. He had his first solo show a year later, in 1989, at Karsten Schubert Ltd, and rapidly established an international reputation. Hume became known for depicting everyday subjects, such as in his famous ‘door paintings’, using high-gloss premixed paint purchased from hardware stores. His ‘door paintings’ attracted the attention of collector Charles Saatchi, and were also exhibited in Germany and the United States. In mid-1990, Hume abandoned doors, moving instead to using images of celebrities and animals as his subject matter, depicting them in simplified colours and forms.

Gary Hume was shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 1996 and was winner of the Jerwood Painting Prize in 1997. In 1997, Humes’ work was included in _Brilliant!,_a showcase of work by the Young British Artists, or YBAs, whose movement he has long been associated with. The Whitechapel Gallery held a solo exhibition of his work in 1999 and, in 2001, he was elected to the Royal Academy. Since becoming a Royal Academician, Gary Hume’s work has been exhibited all over the world, including at Kestnergesellschaft, Hanover and Modern Art Oxford, and, in 2013, Tate Britain presented a focused survey spanning his entire career. Since then, Hume has opened exhibitions of new work in New York, London, Berlin, Los Angeles and Seoul.

Bond Street and the Royal Academy of Arts are extremely proud to have exhibited Gary Hume’s specially commissioned flags as part of Art in Mayfair 2021.