"Dewlap" by Henry Hudson, a new exhibition at Hiscox Art Projects
Exhibition dates: 22 February – 20 April
London, UK: Tea-stained canvases and biro drawings of roguish characters make up Henry Hudson’s first solo exhibition at Hiscox Art Projects. Influenced by the satirical cartoons of George Cruikshank and Hogarth and contemporary artists including Paul McCarthy, Hudson avoids direct political commentary, and instead his tragi-comic subjects investigate class, social conventions and what it means to be British. Monty Python, Blackadder and The Young Ones inform Hudson’s wry approach and his love of the ridiculous. The images are sourced from a range of places and publications including pub walls, old books, Farmers’ Weekly and Country Life, and several appear to have been lifted from a nightmarish version of Beatrix Potter’s classic children’s books.
Other works are made of plasticine made to appear as oil paintings. Traditionally a children’s plaything, plasticine has innocent connotations which Hudson’s subject matter undercuts with its emphasis on adult, sometimes sexual subject matter. The plasticine paintings have their roots in a range of 20th century German painters including Max Beckmann, Georg Baselitz and Martin Kippenberger.
The title of the exhibition “Dewlap” refers to the flap of skin that hangs beneath the chin of an animal, or on an elderly person’s neck.
Henry Hudson graduated from Central St Martins College of Art and Design in 2005. His first exhibition at Hiscox Art Projects was The Beautiful and the Damned, a controversial collaboration with Stella Vine, which featured celebrities including Kate Moss and Meg Matthews.
Elliot McDonald, Hiscox Curator, said: “Henry Hudson’s work often transgresses conventional notions of good taste and challenges us to look again at familiar subject matter. His work is both striking and humorous and we are delighted to be bringing an original talent to Hiscox Art Projects.”
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