UPCOMING OFFERING: HENRY HUDSON

Release 26/09/2025 - 9 AM CET

Henry Hudson is a contemporary British artist living in London who works across painting, sculpture, ceramics, installation and printmaking. Hudson’s critical practice is expressed through the exploration of various techniques and materials, plasticine, scagliola, oil painting, 3D printing, wax, sand and textiles.

Born to a creative family in 1982 in Bath, Hudson’s father is a British sculptor, and his mother is an American chef. Raised in Yorkshire, Hudson’s professional interest in art emerged in his mid-teens. He studied at Ampleforth College and later received a degree from Central Saint Martins, London, with a BA Honors in 2005.

For the past several years, Hudson has been best known for his distinctive use of plasticine as an artistic medium in the creation of textured paintings. He was initially inspired by School of London artists such as Leon Kossoff and Frank Auerbach, who were known for their works rendered in thick impasto oil paint. He began using plasticine as an economical way to achieve a similar effect to the densely layered paint. As he developed his practice, he soon discovered the theatrical and expressive qualities peculiar to the medium. This offered him an innovative and exciting way to develop his painterly technique, focus on materiality, and passion for gestural expression. It has remained an evolving staple of Hudson's practice.

More recently, he started using plaster and glue as an artistic medium for the first time in his “Scagliola” series, which allows for quicker and less labor-intensive execution compared to his plasticine paintings.

Hudson’s work thematically covers much ground, from exploring social stereotypes to satirizing the madness of contemporary life. His scenes are often theatrical and, at first glance, appear playful, yet this humor masks a darker picture that reveals a grotesque and depraved version of humanity. Scattered throughout the works are references to contemporary political affairs, the consumerist idols, and the obscene products of salacious desire. Hudson depicts a world that, at first glance, seems trapped in the depth of hedonistic excess. However, closer inspection reveals glimpses of hope and reminders of the fundamentals that keep us grounded in a deeper level of reality.

Hudson has been widely profiled over the years in major international media, which have highlighted both his critical acclaim and market momentum. Publications include The Guardian, Vanity Fair, The New York Times, British GQ, and Reuters.

In addition, Hudson has had numerous solo and group shows, and his work is collected by notable figures such as Robert Hiscox, Marc Quinn, Jay Jopling, Katrin Henkel, Mario Testino, Tommy Hilfiger, and Peter Gabriel who commissioned Hudson to create for an album cover and set design, underscoring the cross-disciplinary recognition of his practice.

Selected Solo Shows:

2026 - Upcoming

A solo show at Honor Fraser Gallery, Los Angeles, USA – scheduled for November

A solo show at Lisa Kandlehofer, Vienna, Austria – scheduled for July

A solo show at Carl Kostyál, Stockholm, Sweden – scheduled for February

2024

“Sanctuary Room: Cave of the Mind”, Palo Gallery, New York, USA

2023

“Painting with Sculpture: Reflections on the State of the Nature”, Unit London, London, UK

2022

“Shanti”, Unit London, London, UK

“Ontological Spherescapes”, Palo Gallery, New York, USA

“Scapes”, Unit London, London, UK

2021

“Henry Hudson: Microcosm”, Online viewing room from Simon de Pury’s Instagram account along with physical exhibitions in the artist studio, London, UK

2020

“Pathway”, Galerie Kandlhofer, Vienna, Austria

“At Some Point of Time”, Galerie Isa, Mumbai, India

2019

“Henry Hudson: Nothing Sticks to Nothing”, Hannah Barry Gallery, London, UK

2018

“Henry Hudson: Jungles”, Albion Barn & Fields, Oxfordshire, UK

2017

“Sun City Tanning”, Carl Kostyál, London, UK

2016

“Sun City Tanning”, Sotheby’s S|2 gallery, New York, USA

Selected Group Shows:

2025

“40th Anniversary Exhibition”, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK

2024

“AI & Technology Influence on Contemporary Art”, curated by Virginia Damtsa at Gabriel Scott’s showroom, London, UK

“The Hudsons, Family Ties”, Claridge’s ArtSpace, London, UK

2023

“ART021 Shanghai Contemporary”, Art Fair – Unit London, Shanghai, China

“Ten: A Decade of Unit”, Unit London, London, UK

“Eye of the Collector”, Art Fair at Two Temple Place, London, UK

“London Calling”, Unit London, London, UK

2022

“Manscaping”, The Hole, New York and Los Angeles, USA

“Summer Show”, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK

“In The Round”, Unit London, London, UK

2021

“Nature Morte”, The Hole, New York, USA

“Rites of Passage”, Unit London, London, UK

2020

“Inspiration – Iconic Works”, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm , Sweden

“The Eternity Exhibition”, The Painting Rooms, London, UK

2019

“Multiples”, Bridgeman Editions, London, UK

2018

“Tom Hammick x Henry Hudson: Isolated Exteriors”, Bridgeman Editions, London, UK

“New Work Part II: Material”, Cob Gallery, London, UK

2017

“Summer Show”, Carl Kostyál, Stockholm, Sweden

“I Lost My Heart To Starship Trooper”, Griffin Gallery, London, UK

2016

“Naturalia”, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York, USA

These two paintings, depicting horizon lines in the sky, are part of the Horizon Line series (also known as the Scapes series), which Hudson began in 2021. Since then, he has sold over 50 works from the series, making it his fastest-selling body of work.

Inspired by solo flights in empty planes during the Covid-19 pandemic, the series reflects the artist’s airborne views of the earth. Precision is inherently elusive while flying hundreds of miles per hour, which Hudson underscores with his poetic, inexact titles such as “Somewhere over...”. Yet, these geographical references are absent from the luminous ombré of his reliefs, which instead emphasize their compelling physicality—an element often missing from the fleeting vistas that inspired them.

Hudson begins his process on an iPad, digitally manipulating photographs taken during his flights. Together with his assistants, he then builds up surfaces on aluminum panels using a clay-like mixture of pigment, petroleum jelly, calcium salts, chalk, and dry pigment in polyvinyl acetate. He textures these surfaces with tools, producing the craggy appearance of a distant, alien terrain. To create the horizon lines, he cuts directly into the color fields with a handmade tool of his own design, revealing the strata of color beneath. The resulting compositions recall the utopian aspirations of the 1950s and ’60s neo-avant-garde, a period when artists explored the potential of pure color.

At its core, the Horizon Line series is deeply personal for Hudson. The decision to create works that appear humble and unassuming reflects his own development as an artist. Through an instinctive and risk-taking process, he produces paintings whose quiet simplicity conveys a sense of timelessness and opens the door to multiple interpretations. These horizon lines can be many things at once—landscapes, seascapes, pathways, sunsets, sunrises, or even glimpses into outer space.