Galleries One & Two
Western Exhibitions is pleased to announce our sixth solo show, After All, Paintings and Prints, with beloved Chicago artist Richard Hull, presenting new paintings in Gallery 1 and in Gallery 2, a retrospective, dating back to 1975, of his extensive printmaking practice. Please join us for an opening reception for the artist on Friday, June 12 from 5 to 8pm. The show runs through August 15, 2026.
Richard Hull’s 2026 solo show at Western Exhibitions picks up where his previous body of work left off. Looking back, his April 2023 show with the gallery looms large, with Hull reaching new heights in psychological complexity in his decade-long exploration of abstract portraits and hairstyle inspired references. In a wonderful turn of creative restlessness, the artist included some pivotal works where he expressed a desire to have the figures stand up, revealing full bodies and resulting in evocative interactions between characters. In his newest exhibition, Hull flips this dynamic, with the bulk of the paintings exploring entangled figural relationships, some made in the direct aftermath of his previous show in 2023, along with some playful new avenues and some references to past eras of his work.
Over the past few years, Richard Hull has taken a multifarious approach to imagery, ranging from libidinal figures composed in stage-like settings, to a leering cat with a beret in “Purd” (2025). Earlier in his career, Hull pondered architectural worlds destabilized by forced perspective and painterly pursuits. In these new works, Hull seeks a different type of architectural structure, stacking referential body elements and compiling abstract shapes as building blocks. The compositions are often adorned further with ruffled draperies and bolstered by cartoonish wooden planks. In one painting, “Kiss” (2023), wood-grained beams provide a boost to two disembodied heads, teetering on the verge of a smooch. Another painting, “Carrying the Flood” (2023), shows a couple of characters at opposite ends of the canvas, bridged by their task of carrying water. One figure reaches towards the other, but its hairy, yellow appendage seems thwarted before making contact. Over the course of the exhibition, these mysterious dramas continue to play out, creating a titillating and moody complexity, amidst tenuous structures in tight spaces.
This time out, there are only a few paintings in Hull’s long explored portrait format, but they have undergone some psychological and formal mutations. Among them, “Glance” (2025), the largest portrait, parts ways with the artist’s forward facing mirror orientation, offering a space-inducing turn of the head and shoulders, while simultaneously displaying a wandering stare and disarming side-eye. The other two portraits depict humanoid feline forms fraught with pathos. The first, “Tact” (2025) looks effete and distant, while the other “Jealousy” (2025) presents an angry, embittered subject, seething with emotion. Adding to the ambiance and continuity between the paintings exhibited here, is Hull’s stylish oil and beeswax approach, allowing for scribbles, scrapes, and a variety of other personal painterly flourishes.
— Written by Geoffrey Todd Smith, May 2026
Richard Hull (b. 1955 Oklahoma City, OK) has paintings, drawings and prints in the collections of several museums including the Art Institute of Chicago; Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City; The Smart Museum, Chicago; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.; and Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio. He joined the legendary Phyllis Kind Gallery before graduating from the School of the Art Institute in Chicago in 1979 and had numerous shows in both her New York City and Chicago locations. Richard Hull is represented by Western Exhibitions, Chicago.