Born in 1967 in Brussels, Gauthier Hubert won the 1999 « Prix de la jeune peinture belge » and has since shown his work in international group and solo shows, mostly in the UK, Iceland and Belgium.
Gauthier Hubert’s painting is enigmatic in many respects – while his technique itself has a timeless and meticulous quality, the rest of his approach has a resolutely contemporary style. It shows solid swathes of vibrant colors, combined with an unsettling strangeness in its shapes and a steady fascination with ugliness, which immediatly draws the eye.
“Most of of his subjects have something that disturbs and can even go as far as repulse; undoubtedly because it affects humans and creates an inescapable mirror effect. A man twisting in pain, a woman with a bloody face, a three-headed monster, a beautiful woman with an absent look, a devil’s face or a series of drawings entitled Laughter Yellow. The secret of this painting, which inevitably seduces and convinces, is at least threefold.
First of all, there is the quality of the pictorial rendering down to the smallest detail, and this is very important in this case, without forgetting the essential role of colours; secondly, there is the sneaky offbeat humour and, finally, there is, in addition to a set of cultural references, our inevitable human involvement and feelings.”
– Claude Lorent
He goes beyond his subject, refering to art history, sometimes in a very direct way with precise references, but mainly by following in the footsteps of artists that tested human nature through distortion before him. His uncanny artworks are the product of historical weight mixed with a very modern structure and gaze.
“Gauthier Hubert enters into a satirical dialogue with Art History, charmingly convincing the spectator of the uninterrupted existence of the people and characters who once posed for the great masters. His work indeed consists of a joyous duality : painting via language and language via painting. Coming and going between matters of painting and words of language, each picture is a trip for the eyes. The vehicle used is the painted figure. The title gives it a direction. And art history is its engine. It is up to us, the audience, to go that way but, as long as we are willing to play the game, we will find in each painting an enigma to solve, and a story to read.”
– François de Coninck
[READING LIST]
Selected essays:
Press:
National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavik (IS)
Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, Brussels (BE)
Musée d’Ixelles, Brussels (BE)
Maison Particulière, Brussels (BE)
Réunions familiales (un goût de liberté), Le Botanique, Brussels (BE)
…fils de… (Les retrouvailles), Le Botanique, Brussels (BE)
tempête dans un verre d’eau, Irène Laub Gallery, Brussels (BE)
Sans aucun titre, Brussels (BE)
Monographie, Edition Art 00+16 La Mediatine, Brussels (BE)
Maison à vendre (with Gudny Rosa Ingimarsdottir), Brussels (BE)
Résonnance(s), Maison Particulière, Brussels (BE)
c’est la peinture qui nous regarde, WEproject, Brussels (BE)
Bibliotheca, Koraalberg, Antwerp (BE)
Een schilderij van Sint-Lukas, Sint-Lukasgalerie, Brussels (BE)
Dieter Roth fondation, Skaftfell, Seydisfjordur (IS)
So Artficial (was) a Project for Luanda, Koraalberg, Antwerp (BE)
Virus, Ruimte Morguen Gallery, Antwerp (BE)
U.S.A. U.S.E. U.S., Witte Zaal Sint-Lucas, Ghent (BE)
U.S.A. U.S.E. U.S., Living Art Museum, Reykjavik (IS)
Duty, Koraalberg, Antwerp (BE)
Academica Dictatura, Kunst Nu, S.M. A.K. – De Vereniging, Ghent (BE)
ArtKonceptAgency, Galerie Nadja Vilenne, Liège (BE)
La Cambre / Ter Kameren, Building Van De Velde, Brussels (BE)
Tropismes, Brussels (BE)
Achrome, Irène Laub Gallery, Bruxelles (BE)
Notre ami Yves, (avec Yves Lecomte et Gudny Rosa Ingimarsdottir), Brussels (BE)
Kwartett, National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavik (IS)
Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh (GB)
Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens, Tyne & Wear (GB)
BP Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery, London (GB)
Treasures around E. Munch, National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavik (IS)
Pop Up – les dernières acquisitions, Musée d’Ixelles, Brussels (BE)
Galerie Elaine Levy Project, Brussels (BE)
Féminité, Maison Particulière – International Private collections, Brussels (BE)
Origines, Maison Particulière – International Private collections, Brussels (BE)
Le Garage, Mechelen (BE)
Fading, Museum of Ixelles, Brussels (BE)
Take off 2009, Koraalberg, Antwerp (BE)
Summer show, Koraalberg, Antwerp (BE)
Show Off, Koraalberg, Paris (FR)
Wall project, Koraalberg, Antwerp (BE)
Aeroplastics Contemporary, Brussels (BE)
Eclips. Tentoonstelling rond het verdwijnen, Bornem; Puurs; Willebroek (BE)
Glitch, Art Box, Waregem (BE)
Zoersel 2002, Een raadsel voor Zoersel, Gemeentehuis Zoersel, Zoersel (BE)
Pieter Vermeersch, Kris Fierens, Gauthier Hubert, Joris Ghekiere, Kunstenaars van de Galerie Koraalberg, Antwerp (BE)
Spring, Galerie Nadja Vilenne, Liège (BE)
Project AKA – ArtKonceptAgency, Fondation tap Tournai (BE)
Repugnantia, Galerie Nadja Vilenne, Liège (BE)
AD-Res (bxl2000), Schaarbeek (BE)
Prix de la Jeune Peinture Belge 1999, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels (BE)
Antarctic- Belgique, Bozar, Brussels (BE)
Musée de Charleville-Mézières, Charleville-Mézières (FR)
L’autre Musée, Brussels (BE)
Galerie Damasquine, Brussels (BE)
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Charleroi (BE)
Art Brussels (BE)
Art Brussels (BE)
Art Brussels (BE)
Argos Festival (BE)
Angle, 1st International Short Film and Video Festival in Xiamen, Xiamen / Zhangzhou (CN)
Fil Rouge 3, La biennale de Louvain-la-Neuve, Louvain-la-Neuve (BE)
Prix Royal Académique ‘Jos Albert’, Palais des Académies Sciences & Lettres (BE)
Prix de la Jeune Peinture Belge, Palais des Beaux-Arts (BE)
Prix Royal Académique ‘Gustave Camus’, Palais des Académies sciences & lettres (BE)
