GAUTHIER HUBERT

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 ‘Rire Jaune’ 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

Language is essential in Gauthier Hubert’s works; the title frames the pictorial subject or precedes it, in a constant back and forth between text and image. The title is a primary element of the work, and creates a constant back and forth between word and image. Situated in a satirical dialogue with art and history, Gauthier Hubert’s paintings are extremely referenced, interspersing their composition with clues, jokes and visual puns. The treatment and choice of subject often lead to a deeper examination of the pictorial discipline – for Gauthier Hubert, painting is a pretext to talk about painting.

 

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[READING LIST]

Selected essays:

• “Gauthier Hubert – Arts 10 + 6” by Halldór Björn Runólfsson, 2016 (EN) (FR)
• “The Power of Language in Painting- Risk, Creation or Recreation” by François de Coninck, 2016 (EN) (FR)
• “About ‘Bibliotheca'” by Halldór Björn Runólfsson, 2008 (EN) (FR)
• “Een schilderij van Sint-Lukas – exposition de Gauthier Hubert à Sint-Lukasgalerie” by Eva González-Sancho, 2006 (FR)
• “USA USE US” by Edith Doove, 2004 (EN)
• “Duty” by Philippe Pirotte, 2002 (EN)
• “Prix de la jeune peinture belge / Prijs jonge belgische schilderkunst 1999” by Denis Gielen, 1999 (EN) (FR) (NL)

Press:

• “Gauthier Hubert/ Starry, Starry Night”, Manuela Klerkx in Gallery Viewer, 2021 (EN)
• “Focus – Gauthier Hubert” in Revue Point Contemporain, 2020 (FR)
• “Noces”, Benoît Dusart in L’Art Même, 2020 (FR)
• “À tort et à raison”, Michel Verlinden in Focus – Le Vif, 2020 (FR)
• “Verzonnen koppen”, Hans Boffel in Knack, 2020 (NL)
• “‘J’utilise la peinture pour parler de peinture'”, Gwennaëlle Gribaumont in Arts Libre – La Libre, 2020 (FR)
• “Familles, je vous aime !”, Michel Verlinden in Focus – Le Vif, 2020 (FR)
• “Refaire le portrait”, Sebastien Ministru in Moustique, 2020 (FR)
• “Une rentrée des galeries sous contrainte”, Muriel de Crayencour in Mu-inthecity, 2020 (FR)
• “Portrait of the collector as a producer”, Sam Steverlynck in ArtSlant, 2014 (EN)
• “Pop-Up 2 : Gauthier Hubert et Gudny Rósa Ingimarsdóttir”, Estelle Spoto in BRUZZ, 2012 (FR)
• “Toute la beauté de la laideur”, Claude Lorent in La Libre, 2011 (FR)
• “Dans la bibliothèque de Gauthier Hubert”, Pierre-Yves Desaive, 2008 (FR)

 

COLLECTIONS

SOLO SHOWS

GROUP SHOWS

PRIZES