Meet the artist: Huddie Hamper

After graduating from London’s Slade School of Fine Art in 2021, Huddie Hamper entered the art world with a bang. Canterbury’s Lilford Gallery hosted his debut solo exhibition The Outset in 2022 and that same year Hamper showed works in New York as part of the White Columns’ Benefit Exhibition and Auction. Between December 2022 and January 2023, Hamper’s work was exhibited digitally in True Circle of Motion a two-person show with the artist Elizaveta Filips by London’s Janet Rady Fine Art Gallery. The show highlighted the artists’ shared interest in capturing ethereal and psychological elements in their compositions.

Hamper incorporates abstract elements into his figurative compositions, which are often self-portraits. Self Portrait at 22 shows the young artist in a chair, looking away from the viewer with hands clasped. His hands are painted in a cool yellow, which ties in with the artist’s blond hair and abstract mustard shapes in the background, helping to create a sense of harmony in the composition. Self-portraits give us an intimate view of the artist and it will be intriguing to see how Hamper’s self-image changes in the coming years of his career. 

Hamper incorporates expressionist colour, loose brushwork and contrasting textures in his works, helping him capture a sense of movement in the fleeting moments he immortalises. He is guided by instinctive urges when composing his work and mark-making, adding to the deep sense of the personal which is palpable in his portraits.

In War Eagle Killed By Herbert-Keeps-Eagle we see a dream-like scene in which two men hold the outstretched wings of a large eagle, with a colourful abstract shadow cast on the wall behind them. One man stands in darkness in the corner making direct eye contact with the viewer. This is a classic example of Hamper’s psychologically-loaded compositions which blur the lines between reality and the subconscious. Hamper prefers not to prescribe meanings to his works and gives this interpretive power to his viewers.

The artist works primarily with oil paint and charcoal on canvas, applying the latter directly to the surface to sketch his compositions and applying the paint on top. Hamper has also produced a series of woodcut prints which capture his characteristic figures and skulls, and printmaking formed a key part of his artistic training. 

The Romantic artist Gericault has greatly influenced the artist and has a shared interest in capturing the macabre. This is evident in Hamper’s 2020 painting Skull After Gericault Version III. Skulls appear regularly in Hamper’s work signalling an interest in mortality and spirituality.

The artist lives in London and paints at the Billy Childish Studio in Chatham. The £5million arts development was opened by the Stuckist artist, musician and poet Billy Childish in 2012 in Chatham’s historic dockyard as part of the University of Kent’s Medway campus. Childish was awarded an honorary Doctor of Arts degree from the university in 2014 and works as a visiting lecturer at Rochester Independent College in the town where Hamper completed his art foundation course. 

Much like Billy Childish, Hamper is also a musician alongside his artistic practice. He is the lead singer and guitarist in The Shadracks - a three-piece rock and roll band based in Medway, Kent. The band released an eponymous debut album in 2018, a second entitled From Human Like Forms in 2021, as well as several singles since their formation. 

Huddie Hamper is an emerging artist to keep your eye on.