“Man' s Adventure”, 2008, Acrylic on canvas board, Dimensions variable
About the Show
The work presented in "The Most Beautiful Woman in Town," is a series of small drawings on paper from famed painter, John Hull. The collection is based on a series of short stories by Charles Bukowski and examines the possible relationships between men and women in various vignettes.
In a recent essay on a series of his paintings, writer Annie Proulx described them as follows, "Hull's paintings, taken one at a time, are a little like sections cut from a movie, the viewer must imagine the missing action leading up to, or following, the subject depicted. They are like a collection of poems where each poem can stand alone but is also related to the others enclosed within the same covers." This also holds true for the drawings shown here. The works are inter-related, but each also presents a complete and intimate narrative.
Hull says he’s "what he’s trying to reveal to the viewer is the present, and not the ideal limit whose place is neatly marked out between past and future. Beyond this present time there is nothing, since the future does not exist yet. The present rises up from sources unknown to us and forever begins anew." He effectively does this by showing relationships at different times of life. Some show passion and desire, others express cruelty, heroism or tenderness, but each is a depiction of a moment in the present.
