Christian Hook, 2014 winner of the British broadcast competition Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year, just unveiled his new collection of paintings and exclusive editions, as well as the release of his new hardback book La Busqueda at Clarendon Fine Art in Mayfair, London. The exhibition features his infamous portraits from the Sky Art Series with actress Sue Johnston, singer Mick Hecknall from Simply Red and professional footballer Fabrice Muamba.
The paintings of Christian Hook are rooted in tradition yet brim with freshness and vitality. The past and present collide in each piece, creating alternating perspectives on one subject. There is a fascination with classical art and the broken image combined with an exploration of time and motion through subsequent layers of transparent paint. Working between London and Gibraltar, Christian Hook is fascinated with capturing time and depicting motion, time and the moments that occur between events, hence the use of multiple view points to depict a single subject. He states – “We are always on the move, if not physically, mentally.”
His Monologues series reinterpret the timeless bather theme by depicting a female figure at different phases during bath time, a moment of self reflection. The artist also started collaborating with other artists to bring an additional element to the paintings such as an ornate ladder sculpture and silver flip flops. Other portraits include animals like when Hook manages to capture the essence of a greyhound while it remains still for a millisecond, ready to spring and pays tribute to the Spanish Cartujano horse with a close study of its anatomy and elegant movements.
Photo Credit: Butterfly Art News
