Paul Huxley | Breaking the law is the artist's mission

Paul Huxley

Paul Hesley

Paul Huxley was the first professor at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts to start working on abstract art, citing decades of abstract art LinkedIn in China and influencing generations of artists with his unique "dualistic" approach to creation.

Paul Hesley's insistence on the art form of "dualistic divided picture" has lasted for more than forty years, which is the direct expression of the "artist's mission" he elaborated. When he was a student, art professors taught him not to divide the picture, because doing so would break the original balance of the picture. However, Paul Hesley chose to defy the master's orders, and it was this revolutionary artistic innovation that made him a well-known abstract painter, and then rose to the podium of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and became a professor of the art hall that symbolizes the British art world. His unique art became a milestone in British abstract art, inspiring and inspiring generations of artists.

Piccadilly Flags 2022

All we have to do is break the rules! (All we have to do is breaking rules!)

—Paul Huxley

Breaking the law is the artist's mission

The first time I came into contact with Paul Hesley's work, a few key words immediately popped into my mind: order, calmness, rhythm, and as you can see from the surface, Paul himself is full of the temperament of a standard British old-school gentleman, so that it is difficult to associate him with passionate, obscure "contemporary art". Born in the college, famous in the college until now is still the Royal Academy of Arts treasurer and honorary fellow, the standard standard is completely "academic school", "senior royal academician" this title can not be shaken off sometimes let people ignore his art itself, but if you take a closer look, it is not difficult to find that every step taken by this old gentleman is full of courage and enthusiasm, and his unique artistic concept explores a pure and fresh self-preservation for the British contemporary abstract art style.

The Link, 2012

Proteus XV, 2011

From the age of 17 when he entered the Royal Academy of Arts, Paul Hesley showed sensitivity and talent for non-figurative art. After graduation, the famous critic Bryan Robertson was able to participate in the "New Generation" exhibition at the Whitechapel Art Museum and stand out with the "Flow" series. During his subsequent invitation to visit New York, Paul Hesley subconsciously began to conduct early research on his "abstract series" of works. To this day, he is still a confident and rebellious posture, daring to shout a sentence: "Who said that abstract art does not divide the picture, I just want to break the law!" Therefore, in addition to a large number of symbolic senses of his works we see today, the most obvious visual impression is the "binary segmentation picture" of the left and right hemispheres that we see head-on. And this anti-traditional painting method, he has been going on for more than forty years. Rebellion and innovation also influenced his famous students: Chris Ofili, Tracey Emin...

1959, PH in Royal Academy Schools

Ri - Sun 2, 2008

Depart from the "Whitechapel"

In 1964, he met his first Bole in his life: Bryan Robertson, director of the Whitechapel Gallery, one of London's top ten art galleries.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the golden age of the Whitechapel Gallery and the active period of contemporary art throughout Britain, curated by curator Brian Robertson in a series of exhibitions that triggered a subversive trend in the British art world and even the world. Among them, "This is Tomorrow" in 1956 made British art emerge after the war, launching the future father of Pop, Richard Hamilton, and subsequently, the solo exhibition of Jackson Pollock in 1958 and the solo exhibition of Mark Rothko in 1961, etc., successively launched world-class masters. The Whitechapel Gallery is also increasingly becoming the cornerstone of British contemporary art.

Fluid Form 1, 1964

A View, 1962

In 1964, the Whitechapel Museum launched a group exhibition of emerging artists from the sixties, the "New Generation" group exhibition, in which Paul's "Mobile Series" was extremely influential, becoming the beginning of the British neo-abstraction style, which won him the first prize of the Stuyveson Travel Award that year, and it was this award that brought him to the United States, where he met several close friends in his life and very important partners in his future artistic career, and they were the leading American artists of this period, such as Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, Robert Martwell, and Andy Warhol, whose friendships have lasted for quite some time because of their bold innovations in their respective artistic styles.

1964, ‘The New Generation’

Whitechapel Art Gallery, London

1964, PH in Chiswick studio

The following year, Paul received a Harknes Fellowship in the United States, lived in New York for two years, and held his first solo exhibition in New York, in which he tried to go beyond the traditional single-center model followed by abstract painting at that time, pioneering the division of canvas areas, at which time the "Key Series" began to show the characteristics of picture segmentation.

Fable, 1982

Spanish Cubism, 1978

In 1977, Paul created the "Studio Series", a series of abstract paintings that used Surrealism as a source of inspiration and combined Cubism with the same groundbreaking at the time, providing an example of the origins of modernism. At the end of the 1980s, Paul proposed that paintings were renderings of two or more different images interacting with each other, and his concepts of flat colors, lines, chiaroscuro and collage caused a lot of controversy in the British art world at that time. For Paul, every step in his artistic career was extremely exploratory, and whether he could gain public recognition at the time or not, time proved that these ideas were ahead of the curve and were confirmed by later generations.

Studio, 1978

Flowing rhythm

- Kings Cross St. Pancras Metro Station

In 1986, Paul designed the northern line and the Piccadilly line subway platform at King's Cross St. Pancras in London, "I want to embody this concept, which is consistent with the overall internal structure and traditional functions of the platform, so the artistic connotation and spatial structure of the design must serve the architectural characteristics of the entire railway station." So I decided to use the most commonly used material: tiles, and to ensure that the colors I used matched the cream and blue tiles of the classic British style of the thirties in the adjacent passages, we specially customized a batch of special ceramic glazes to the top European building material vendors. ”

King’s Cross St Pancras, 1985

King's Cross St Pancras Station is the largest interchange station on the London Underground, with 4 rails of 6 lines passing through. Its first subway station opened in 1863 as a station on the Metropolitan Railway, renovated twice in 1868 and 1926. The stations of the Piccadilly and Brompton Great Northern Railway opened in December 1906 along with the other stations on the line, and the City and South London Lines (part of the Northern Line) opened in May 1907.

Design in progress

When people arrive and leave the subway on foot, as well as take the subway and slowly drive away from the platform, their eyes will sweep over the narrow platform, and the blank space behind and above the platform is equivalent to providing Paul with a long strip canvas, Paul decided to make an innovative design, turning the stationary picture into flowing film. "I decided to use a gradient of color in my design, from one end of each platform to the other, the footsteps and eyes of each passenger will be rhythmically associated with my picture, each individual picture is like a frame in an abstract animated film, and in the continuous time and movement, the viewer will naturally feel a unique rhythm."

Northern Line Southbound working drawing

Working model for Piccadilly Line Northbound

This approach to abstract images was relatively ahead of the British art world at the time, but for Paul, it was a matter of course: "The core elements of these designs presented on the subway platform, or the source of inspiration, were the letters K and A+." Since my paintings often incorporate two variations of shape elements into the same work, this solution coincides with the interests of my paintings. ”

Work in progress laying terrazzo floor

Northern Line Northbound

"The Female Side of Men" and "The Female Side of Women"

Paul's most notable works are the "Anima" (the female side of the man) and the "Animus" (the male side of the woman) series created in 1988. On the canvas divided into two parts, on the left is the vague curved state of the red system, the Anima symbolizing the soul, spirit, life, etc., which should be imagined as the female side of the man, to be precise; On the right is the combination of the full color and angular squares, symbolizing reason, will, definition, etc. Animus, can you see that it is the male side of the woman? This series is easily reminiscent of the popular best-selling book "Men from Mars, Women from Venus" a few years ago.

Modus Operandi I, 1988

Quod Erat Demonstrandum I, 1988

This series is applied - curves + rectangles of the rule. Hesley divides the canvas evenly in two to highlight logical steps and amorphous features. In the tense atmosphere formed by this composition, the spiral figure on the left side of the picture is constantly moving while also in continuous dialogue with the geometric pattern on the right side. The figures on both sides go in opposite directions according to their respective laws, drawing the viewer's attention from one end of the picture to the other.

Proteus I, 2001

Proteus II, 2001

"Once the picture is divided, it will cause the viewer to question. Why split it into two sides? Are the two parts similar, or different? And why do these two sides have to be put together? The viewer is fully immersed in the work at this moment of reflection. ”

For the works of Paul Hesley, it has been explained that "they are rooted in the philosophical ideas of ancient Greece". "Dualism" divides the composition of the world into spirit and matter on a mutually independent principle, and this duality becomes a form, which is to express the kind of "monism" that ultimately points to the same ideal.

Some commentators say that Paul Hesley's ideas are abstract from beginning to end. For example, he always chooses the Latin etymology as the title of his works, which is very similar to the previous minimalist and abstract paintings in which many artists set the title of their works as "untitled", showing a "sense of ambiguity" that is not related to the title of the work.

Acrylic and emulsion

"I love Chinese characters"

When Paul first came to China in 2004, he was not attracted by the magnificent Great Wall and the magnificent Forbidden City, but by the ubiquitous Chinese public signs, and the bold Chinese characters in the signs made Paul feel familiar. "It was so surprising to me that these Chinese characters looked so much like my paintings, they looked like the things I had done before," Paul explains.

Paul was fascinated by the abstract aesthetics revealed in the bold Chinese characters in these public signs, and he began to photograph them, study them intently, and even make them into a collection as a source of inspiration for a series of later works, "The only problem is that I don't know what these words mean, I really can't use what I'm not familiar with correctly, I'm used to being an expert in my field of work, but I'm not good at what I'm not sure about, because you know, my paintings are very precise." 」 In order to get these Chinese characters, Paul translated everything he recorded at once, and then decided which Chinese character could be used by him.

Lu - Green, 2006

Gong, 2004

Paul says that although he was fascinated by Chinese characters because of the purely abstract aesthetic, later, because of understanding their meaning, he soon shifted the focus of his research from glyphs to the literal aspect. In 2006, he created a group of seven large-scale oil paintings, named Gong (Gong), Zhu (Zhu), Lan (Blue), Tian (Tian), Tian (Tian), Geng (More), Lan (Blue), Lan (Blue), each painting uses its own different abstract elements, by arranging their order, the literal meaning can be roughly translated as "through human efforts can make the sky bluer", 2006, This series of works is in the collection of the National Art Museum in Beijing, China.

Hong - Red, 2006

Rank, 2004

The Chinese characters seen in Paul's eyes are not just the carrier of information, but present a very wonderful sense of art as an abstract form, stitching together Chinese characters and color blocks in different ways, reflecting the simplicity, agility and timelessness that Western modernist painting has been pursuing, it exudes the fresh rhythm of the Mondrian style, to some extent, this concept is similar to the depth and light level emphasized in Chinese classical painting, and the scorched white space has the same magic, by 2010, Paul has created more than 20 works for the Kanji series.

2005, PH in Hammersmith studio

with studies for the China series

2005, Royal Academicians in China

Royal Academy of Arts, London

Is it possible to engage in abstract art casually? Hesley is that "abstraction itself no longer appears in anything, but exists in an independent way." That is, abstraction is a pure crystal. I think it's important to represent the process of 'how abstraction is created'. Just as the clockwork parts in a clock mesh and rotate with each other, there is a mechanism operating inside the "abstraction", and my concern is the key to open this mechanism. Therefore, in his view, those Chinese characters that we are all familiar with are only because of the different cultural contexts of different countries and regions, forming different visual perceptions of abstract symbols, and the meaning of the Chinese characters themselves is not so important.

After Venice 2, 2015

After Venice 3, 2015

As he put it, "I will not reject anything and any possibility", he was the first professor at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts to start making abstract art, his bold innovation has led LinkedIn abstract art for decades, he is rooted in traditional modernism, and on this basis he carries out diverse and unique abstract painting creations. He broke with the traditional notions of balance and harmony and began to explore new tensions on the canvas. The unique "dualistic" approach has influenced generations of artists, whose strong visual impact and subtle internal dynamics represent and lead the classic abstract art of Britain.

Although he has been painting for half a century, Paul Hesley will still hold solo and group exhibitions in important museums and galleries in the United Kingdom and even around the world from time to time, and he still works tirelessly for the "new things" he cares about, for the younger generation of artists, he is the "elder" respected in his heart, but for himself, painting may be just a very interesting daily activity, which consumes time and brings endless vitality.

Poised 3, 2017

Dialogue with Paul Hesley

Q: What is the reason for creating abstract paintings?

P: The abstraction itself no longer appears in anything, but exists in an independent way. In other words, abstraction is a pure "crystal." I think it's important to represent the process of "how abstraction is created."

Just as the clockwork parts in a clock mesh and rotate with each other, there is a mechanism operating inside the "abstraction", and my concern is the key to open this mechanism. Painting achieves maximum results with minimal effort. This is also the result of the condensation of philosophy, history, entertainment, etc. It seems to be called "the whole world of idea", right?

Stop, 2020

Q: What was the creative process?

P: In the course of my decades of artistic activity, I have built my own system. At the beginning, I started to create on the canvas as soon as I had a little idea, but after all, I was a master of the eye. Now it's time to start by drawing small pieces to the maximum. After the most perfect appearance appeared, it was placed on eight times the size of the drawing paper. Then cut the paper open, like a collage clip art, put out the expected appearance, and test all the possibilities that can change the appearance. Finally, the tested appearance is put on the canvas, and the values such as size and proportion have already been thought out in the brain. This process system is particularly helpful to me. But I've also been wary of the dangers of doing so, and sometimes I'm afraid I'm stuck in the process, so I just drop the whole step.

Slow/Stop/Reverse, 2016

Q: You say that "artists should not be bound by any rules", as a professor, how do you teach students?

P: The students with whom I quarreled the most are now the more brilliant and well-known artists. (Smile) Young artists should create their own "laws".

The scope of contemporary art is diverse and unlimited, so artists can set their own starting point for individuals, and they should repeatedly create "following the law and breaking the law". Of course, the more important originality is to young artists, and the focus of education falls on the enhancement of originality.

Beta, 2015

Q: Are there any short stories of conflicts between you and your students?

P: Once Chris Ofili got drunk and painted all over the walls of the school cafeteria. Other students protested and punished him for erasing his own paintings himself. I knew he would be as famous as he is now, so I should have left those paintings behind.

Tracey Emin is also a headache. She often did not paint, but set up a coffee table and table in the studio. At that time I often said that she was "quick to draw". At that time, I really did not expect that she would embark on the road of installation art.

Left to right:

Eclipse, 2016, Three Ellipses, 2014, Sea Change, 2016, Encounter, 2012, Proteus III, 2001

Q: Are there any Korean artists you like?

P: I like Nam Jun. I think that the root of all art lies in "deformation", and he is to deform things such as television remote controls, monitors, etc., which are generally not regarded as artistic, and sublimate them into an art, which I appreciate. The abstract and conceptual tendencies of Korean art represented by the Baek Nam-jung artist also have some similarities with European art.

German Modern Painting Course

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