Gary Hume

Platform for Art commissions Gary Hume to make new image for front cover of London Underground Pocket Tube Map

Available from June 2005

Platform for Art is pleased to announce that internationally acclaimed British painter Gary Hume has produced a work of art especially for the cover of the London Underground pocket Tube map. The work is the second in a new series of art works commissioned by Platform for Art. London Underground has a long established tradition of working with artists of the highest calibre and since 2000 its Platform for Art programme has been continuing this tradition through many projects around the network.

Hume’s new work, an abstract grid made up of colours that relate to those of the Tube map itself, immediately references a diagram or indeed a map. It also incorporates the famous London Underground roundel, as well as other elements of the Transport for London branding, as an integral part of the image. Platform for Art Curator, Tamsin Dillon said, ‘This series of commissions for the Tube Map cover celebrates the superb quality and range of work being produced by established artists working today and continues London Underground’s tradition as a patron of the arts. I was delighted when Gary Hume accepted this commission: he has produced a fantastic, instantly recognisable work that could not be by any other artist.’

Internationally renowned in both Europe and America, Hume has exhibited extensively around the world. In 1996 he was the British representative at the São Paulo Biennale and in the same year was nominated for the Turner Prize. In 1999 he represented Britain at the Venice Biennale and has also had solo exhibitions at the Bonnefanten Museum, Maastricht, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, the Whitechapel Gallery, London, and Fundació "La Caixa", Barcelona.

Gary Hume’s art work will appear on the pocket Tube map cover from June 2005, transforming this handy leaflet into an artist’s multiple edition.

Notes for Editors:

• Gary Hume, born in 1962, was one of the generation of British artists who graduated from Goldsmiths College, London and came to prominence in the early 1990s. He first received critical acclaim with a body of work known as the 'door' paintings.
• The Tube map will have a print run of five million and will be the second in the series. The first – ‘You Are Here’ by Emma Kay – proved extremely successful, with the entire print run disappearing in record time, turning millions of London Underground customers into collectors in the space of a few weeks.
• This new edition of the London Underground Pocket Tube Map is a project initiated by Platform for Art curator Tamsin Dillon.

Platform for Art is the public art programme for London Underground

For more information on Platform for Art, its exhibitions and projects, please tel: 020 7918 4625 or email: art@tube.tfl.gov.uk or visit www.tfl.gov.uk/pfa

© 2005 Gary Hume

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