NEW YORK, NY.- Matthew Marks is presenting Gary Hume: Destroyed School Paintings, the new exhibition in his gallery at 522 West 22nd Street. The exhibition features sixteen new paintings and five new sculptures.

The paintings were inspired by news photographs of schoolrooms destroyed in recent conflicts in the Middle East. The contrast between the naive rendering and innocent subject matter of the wall decorations and the brutal destruction surrounding them is at the heart of Hume’s new work. This distressing poignancy compelled Hume to bring these found images out of the news cycle and into the realm of more lasting contemplation through painting, initiating a deeper, more empathetic experience of the ravages of war.

In contrast to the paintings, the sculptures in the exhibition are painted a ghostly white. Hume’s familiar Wonky Wheels, the basis of these works, appear here both restrained and energized by elements suggestive of human interaction.

Gary Hume (b. 1962) lives and works in London and Accord, New York. His work has been the subject of one-person exhibitions at numerous museums, including the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin, Kunsthaus Bregenz in Austria, and Tate Britain in London. He represented Britain at the São Paulo Biennial in 1996 and the Venice Biennale in 1999.

Gary Hume: Destroyed School Paintings is on view at 522 West 22nd Street from September 13 to October 26, 2019, Monday through Friday, from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM.

The next exhibition at 522 W 22nd Street, new work by Trisha Donnelly, opens on November 8.