Gary Hume makes beautiful paintings. His materials are household paints on aluminum surfaces and his subjects, he says, are “flora, fauna, and portraits.” The results are elegant, delicate, simple yet elusive and exquisite. Playing gloriously with color and light, they are paintings of subtle tones, idiosyncratic clashes, and insistent reflections. Interviewed in his studio, Gary Hume reflects on his work from the 1980s, when his Doors series won instant acclaim, to his latest creations. As so often, his new work balances recognizable images with abstraction. His people, like Kate (1996) and Michael (2001), are contemporary icons conjured up from bold shapes and strong planes of color. Illustrated in this profile are many of Gary Hume’s most notable paintings, specially filmed in exhibitions in London and Dublin, and in a major 2004 show in Bregenz, Austria. Also featured are the artist’s rarely-seen drawings and, in contrasting settings, his deadpan sculpture Snowman.