FIRST AND FOREMOST
Spain. He rented a studio in a village in the mountains near Mallorca, and started experimenting by making sculptures with clay. An art gallery owner happened by, and was so struck by Hudson’s work that he flew him to Madrid the next day to discuss casting the clay sculptures in bronze. Hudson’s first show sold out, and then he started exhibiting with top sculptors in the world. In 2008, Sotheby’s London Art department commissioned a piece in their Beyond Limits exhibition, and the first piece sold was the heart-shaped Love Me. A version of that sculpture sits in the park at the Donum winery in Napa Valley, and another sits outside the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The heart-shaped Love Me sculptures are, as Hudson explained, renditions of the raw emotions inherent to the human experience. “I wanted to add another dimension to the heart that shows something else. I thought of conception, of female and male, the pregnant woman. And the male, in an abstract, simplified form. That’s how it ABOVE: LOVE ME AT DURAM WINERY, NAPA VALLEY
prior to the Second World War to work for the government in decoding.
developed, aesthetically, and
She never told her children what she actually did, but they knew her work
it’s been a hugely successful
helped with the war effort. Growing up on a farm in Gloustershire, England,
work. I love that people can
RIGHT: LOVE ME TOTEM, AN ODE TO THE SPIRITUAL ASPECTS OF FIRST NATIONS’ TOTEM POLES
Hudson’s mother taught him to see what other people don’t.
look at these things and
look at the hedge, look inside the hedge. Look at the animals, and all those wonderful things. She taught me to really open my eyes to the whole world, and the nature of things,” Hudson said. Entering adulthood, Hudson wouldn’t find his calling as a sculptor until
The iconic Tear, Hudson explained, simply represents water, but in many forms. “We have tears of joy,
including an attempt at acting. Hudson got into drama school, but that
and tears of sadness. Again,
didn’t last long.
with reflective surface, I want people to look at it all the
theatre, that I just wanted to be a cowboy in the movies,” Hudson said with a
way round. You get a huge
laugh. “I was always very protective of my freedom. I was never really interested
view of everything all around
in making huge sums of money – I just wanted to travel and see the world.”
you, if you just take your eye –
So Hudson set off, travelling to Africa, Australia, America, and all over LIVINGMAG.CA
sions,” Hudson said.
his forties. First, he would experience a series of international adventures,
“I made a fool of myself by saying to the principal in a discussion about
18
draw just their own conclu-
and think how much you’re
Europe. Even though Hudson hadn’t been an artist before, his brother had
looking at everything,
serendipitously gifted him sculpting tools before his trip.
from the plants to the
“That was the one thing I had always loved in school – I was useless at all things academia,” Hudson said. During his travels, Hudson became a muse to a painter in Mallorca,
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2018
lights, everything – in just one split second, in the blink of an eye.”
SOUTHEBYS-BLAYERS, COURTESY RICHARD HUDSON
“She taught me – when you’re walking down a country lane, don’t just