Formally trained for five years at the Newcastle school of art and design, HUSH took to painting after years spent working as an art director in the Far East. His work translates directly from street to gallery; recent sold-out shows include Fatales at Lazarides, London, Unseen at Corey Helford, Los Angeles and Sirens at Metro, Melbourne. His collaborations include a range with Burton snowboards and he was featured in The Independent newspaper’s 2008 list of “Twenty Up and Coming Artists.” Born in 1976, he resides and works from his home town of Newcastle upon Tyne, northern England.
Hush’s unique style, recognisable through its focus on the female form set within backgrounds filled with an expressionist’s freedom of layering and colour. The serene balance of traditional painting is combined with a messier passion, influenced by Western traditions of action painting and graffiti, culminating in a harmony that feels surprisingly natural.
The artist’s mark-making bears the distinct aesthetic of tagging, bringing the rough texture of street art into each piece. Swift gestural marks underlie splashes of paint, looping through lines and over bright combinations of colour. With an in-depth technique that includes painting, screen printing and spray-painting, Hush creates work that instantly draws the eye in and holds the viewer’s focus. Patterns ranging from geometric repetition to florals that conjure up images of royal tapestries and delicately decorated vases are not solely confined to the background but often take shape, forming graceful fabrics. In some works these shapes appear solidly, while in others the central figures are only lightly delineated from the waves of pattern, body and background blending, as if they are sinking into the colourful composition itself.
HUSH has exhibited extensively across the globe, including galleries in Los Angeles, New York City, Miami, London, Basel, San Francisco and Berlin.
