Man with a Horn

Hull received his BFA in 1977 from the Kansas City Art Institute and his MFA two years later from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He joined the Phyllis Kind Gallery before graduating and showed with Kind in both Chicago and New York. “Man with a Horn” is representative of a shift in Hull’s practice that took place in the early 2000s, when he transitioned from depicting architectural environments to working with abstracted biomorphic forms. In Hull’s own words, “The architectural work was about locating figures within the space, and now the work is about the internal space within the figures” (Samet, Jennifer, "Beer with a Painter: Richard Hull," Hyperallergic, 20 December 2019). Using centrally located twisting shapes, Hull creates paintings that do not denote a specific person or type of person but retain a distinct sense of personality. “Man with a Horn” was one of a number of works based on a large painting Hull created to serve as a backdrop for jazz saxophonist Ken Vandermark’s 2005 Outer Ear Festival performance. Though Hull’s content and imagery has shifted over the years, one consistent element is his technique of mixing wax into his pigment. This adds a visual dimensionality and texture as Hull scratches through the surface wax to reveal color underneath.