This painting belongs to a series of Doorpaintings which Hume had begun during his final year at Goldsmiths College. Inspired by the familiar institutional swing doors found in hospitals, he faithfully reproduced their limited characteristics such as window area, raised panelling and finger plate onto the surface of high reflective paintings, using household gloss on canvas and later wooden panels, He chose the insipid colours of the housepainter’s palette to reinforce the anonymity of his subject. He later used alternative colours to highlight the different sections and features of the doors, introducing an element of patterning. In common with artists of his generation he took a familiar everyday object and made it the subject of an artwork of minimal appearance.

New Voices New Works from the British Council Collection, The British Council 1992