Howard Hodgkin

I don’t think you can lightly paint a picture. It’s an activity I take very seriously.
—Howard Hodgkin

Gagosian is pleased to present an exhibition of recent paintings by Howard Hodgkin.

In Hodgkin’s paintings, abstraction and figuration are held in perfect tension. Assertive compressed gestures, sweeping complex textures, a lush palette, and the dynamic interchange of light and dark are all hallmarks of his distinctive signature. Embracing spontaneity and directness in equal measure to the processes of reflection and capitulation, Hodgkin may take a year of preparation to execute a single and instantaneous brushstroke. Containing maximalist gestures and saturated colors expressed in the effects of the brush, the more intimately scaled paintings appear jewel-like, while larger works are sumptuous and theatrical. With their incorporated frames and painted wooden supports, they operate as both objects and images.

In each painting, Hodgkin’s subject is a presence that is sensed rather than apprehended, remaining resistant to interpretation, allusive, and fragmentary. Vibrant traces of experience inspired by everyday memories, places, and encounters are called by name in titles such as Breakfast (2010–11), In Egypt (2007–08), Opera (2003–11) and Knightsbridge (2009–11). By intimating the world beyond the confines of the frame, he creates works that are at once composed and autonomous wholes and synecdoches of the greater aesthetic reality that lies beyond their limits.