Hauser & Wirth now represents British painter George Rouy.
Portrait of George Rouy by Kemka Ajoku. © George Rouy. Courtesy of the artist, Hannah Barry Gallery, and Hauser & Wirth.
Hauser & Wirth has announced its representation of British painter George Rouy in partnership with Hannah Barry Gallery, which has worked with the artist since 2017. Rouy’s debut exhibition at the mega-gallery, “The Bleed,” will open in London this October. The artist will also feature in Hauser & Wirth’s presentation at Art Basel in June.
Born in 1994 in Kent, England, Rouy graduated from Camberwell College of Arts in London in 2015. His art is known for its exaggerated and distorted representations of the human figure, which he uses to explore themes of identity, desire, and alienation. Rouy’s work is featured in several prestigious collections, including the ICA Miami and the X Museum in Beijing.
“George Rouy’s unique paintings, and performance works, speak of a challenging modernity, of an overwhelming anxiety and the guilty pleasures of life,” said Neil Wenman, global creative director and partner at Hauser & Wirth. “They are disturbing and yet familiar, approachable yet repulsive as if held captive in a liminal space between psyche and being, memory and edifice. His paintings create a world whereby we are caught in a loop; we see, we arouse, we deny, we suffocate, we undo.”
Last year, Hauser & Wirth unveiled a new “collective impact” initiative for co-representing artists with smaller galleries. The gallery’s partnership with Hannah Barry Gallery will not follow the “collective impact” model, as reported by the Financial Times.
