A gloss on Iraq war

For years, Gary Hume's paintings have been described as seductively 'candy coloured', and as 'glossy and slick'. And there's no getting around it - these elegant new works are no different. Exquisitely candy coloured, glossy and slick they indeed are. The subjects are American cheerleaders, who are depicted in a highly abstracted, playful style - cheerleaders being a new theme that the artist has developed since he began working in America. Though how Hume can claim, as he does, that these young female sex objects and their waving pom-poms represent his response to the Iraq war - and keep a straight face at the same time - is not known.