Sarah and Barry Martin
posted 28/02/2021
With sincere condolences to Gerard’s loved ones and family. It is always a tragedy when any loved one passes on but a double tragedy when an artist is taken before they can so plate their mission and where some of their best mature works may take form and materialise. Gerard whom I knew as students’ together at St. Martin’s School of Art on the Advanced Course in Sculpture was very likeable and welcoming. He had equal amounts of good humour, seriousness, creativity and informed debate about contemporary art and sculpture. We continued to contact each other after art school and caught up with our news and the humour at openings such as at The Tate Gallery. He persisted through the decades keeping honour with himself as artist where many others had thrown their trowels in! He will be missed very much. Sarah and Barry Martin.
Stephen & Jane Foster
posted 28/02/2021
Remembering some great professional and social occasions with Gerard and Sue. Particularly a lovely weekend spent in their wonderful converted chapel home in Hastings. We have a print of 'Heaven and Hell' which will be a constant reminder of a great artist and friend. He will be sadly missed.
Jaye Ho
posted 28/02/2021
Dear Sue, Ruby, Jack and Frankie
My heart goes out to you at this difficult time. I was so lucky to have you as neighbours on Hughenden road when you were living in Blacklands, and as art friends beyond this - a Hastings private view wasn't a private view without Gerard and Sue's presence!
Gerard - your generosity, wry humour and energy will be sorely missed. Hastings will never be the same again.
Lots of love
Jaye
Cyan Dee
posted 01/03/2021
Gerard meant a great deal to me.
By taking me on to his course at Goldsmiths in 1993, he literally changed the course of my life. Was a very hard course back then, and some of us suffered hugely, but I am glad to have gone through it as he handed me a tool to look at things from various unexpected angles.
That ‘what-would-Gerard-say?’ question will no doubt carry on popping into my head time to time in my studio.
I am immensely grateful for his continued support, generosity, wit and for being Gerard. Truly one of a kind. Hope he knew how much he meant to me and to many many other (cross generations of) artists he touched.
My deepest condolences to Sue and the family.
John Plowman
posted 01/03/2021
It is Gerard's generosity as an artist and human being that I, and many others, will remember him. I have been forever grateful for the support, advice and encouragement he has given me over the years since we first met in 1985. Knowing that you are no longer there fills me with great sadness. Rest in Peace Gerard.
Marjorie Allthorpe-Guyton and Paul Dale
posted 01/03/2021
Gerard was a great artist who was also a remarkable educator, His significance is yet to be fully recognised. His intellectual rigour, wit, generosity and exceptional insights leave a legacy in his work and in the artists he taught and continued to mentor. I owe to Gerard twelve of the most formative years of my life, working at Goldsmiths and to Gerard and Sue warm friendship.
He is much missed by us both,
Marjorie and Paul
Matthew Hemsworth
posted 01/03/2021
He is my...Father...Teacher...Hero... Thank you for everything Daddy... Love always Matthew xxx
Jochem Hendricks
posted 02/03/2021
Great pleasure to be around you, Gerard, rare but unforgotten. One less to count on.
xxx J.H
Alexandra Mollof
posted 02/03/2021
Gerard was kind, sensitive and generous, if sometimes slightly grumpy 😉
May his beautiful soul rest in peace and continue to enjoy creating and inspiring.
Sincerest thoughts,
Alexandra
Hadassah Emmerich
posted 02/03/2021
My sincere condolences. Gerard was my tutor at Goldsmiths in 2004, and I remember great studio visits with him. Fortunately I went to see him at the opening of his gallery show in Brussels, about 2 years ago. It was nice to see him back after all those years. Sending love and strength to his family.
Phil king
posted 03/03/2021
Gerard meant a great deal to me, as a young artist on the goldsmiths MA I found his astuteness and authority somewhat intimidating, I struggled on the course, but his sense of artistic rigour and the example of his paintings always remained with me along with the twinkle in his eye. He was particularly supportive to the stragglers like me. But firm. More recently I feel very fortunate to have spent quality time with him and Sue as part of the Hastings Art Club and the De La War critical evenings blessed by his humour and sardonic stories. Always informative and pushing things forward his generosity and involvement in artistic community building remains deeply moving and an ethical example to all artists I think. Gerard was at one with his work for me and it is left to us as a beautiful, thoughtful, humorously serious body of paintings whose quirky decorum will continue to enrich and animate our lives and whose changing meanings lie ahead of us.
Thank you Gerard.
I attach a photo of Gerard at the end of a group critique with the artist Paco de Quesada at the De la war a few years ago.
DiDi Lin
posted 03/03/2021
Dearest Gerard,
It's DiDi! Your Goldsmith MFA student from 2005-2007.
I still cannot believe that you have left us...However, I want you and your family to know that you have left us many incredible memories that I shall never forget. You are my favorite tutor! You are the first person who gave warm words to me when I arrive at the college from Taiwan/Canada. You are always so inspiring, caring, humorous and always willing to give great inspiring conversation. (you introduced agony aunt and agony uncle to me which is also very inspiring to me and my artwork too). I still remembered you pushed a shopping cart which was filled with loads of great things out from Sainsbury, only intend for your students especially abroad to have a fun and warm Christmas party. I will never forget your charming smile, inspiring words, and especially your passion for students and art.
I will certainly remember your spirit in life, art, teaching and pass it on if possible.
You are greatly missed and hope we can meet again in next life.(Hope this doesn't sound creepy, this is just a warm and wishful thought)
With warmest regards,
DiDi
Tim Maslen, Jennifer Mehra, Riz Maslen
posted 03/03/2021
Dear Sue, Jack, Frankie and Ruby,
Jennifer and I have fond memories of the time that we spent with you and Gerard here in Hastings and at Handsel house. It was a happy surprise for me to reconnect with Gerard after our time together at Goldsmiths so long ago. Gerard’s presence, discerning eye and dry sense of humour will be sorely missed.
We send you our love at this difficult time.
Tim, Jennifer and Riz
Mark Wallinger
posted 03/03/2021
Thank you Gerard, for the two best years that changed me, and my life, and for which I am eternally grateful.
When I started on the MA course at Goldsmiths in 1983 I was, frankly, a bit lost. I was soon to find what was demanded of us was nothing less than a radical overhaul of all our received ideas. Gerard trusted in people’s ability to absorb difficult concepts and dared and encouraged us to begin anew. The success of the course spawned copies elsewhere but Gerard’s charismatic leadership was vital. As an artist and a teacher he was inspirational, and such fun, uniquely charming and caustic - many a night was spent giggling in the seminar room. But to be taken seriously by Gerard was something powerful. He was my guide and mentor who gave me the confidence to believe I could be an artist.
It was wonderful to pick up again with Gerard and Sue and their family in 2001 on our unforgettable trip to India and be part of the Sidewinder exhibition that he conceived and organised: a collaborative show of eleven Indian and UK artists in Kolkata, preceded by a wealth of extraordinary travel and incident as we moved from Rajasthan to Odisha to West Bengal. Lovely to catch up again, when I had my exhibition in Hastings in 2018.
Gerard will be deeply missed by all of us fortunate enough to have known him and benefitted from the generosity of his advice, encouragement and friendship.
We thank you Gerard for everything.
With love, Mark
Elise Ormerod
posted 03/03/2021
You were always a favourite. I shall miss your wit & your chuckle
Michael Stubbs
posted 03/03/2021
Sue/Ruby/Jack/Frankie,
It's taken me a while to write here as I'm still processing the passing of one of my greatest friends and mentors. I feel weepy doing this and I'm going to miss him so much but please, please all of you stay in touch. And wanted to add this in tribute to you all from the bottom of my heart and anyone else who checks out this condolence page...
RIP Gerard Hemsworth, we will all miss you. It's so sad to know you won't be on the end of a phone to chat anymore when I need advice especially as I only spoke to you just three days before you passed. The last gig we worked on together was the 'Fully Awake: Teaching Painting' show in 2018 at the Dyson Gallery, RCA - you were my number one choice of mentor for that project and beyond and I wanted to say so in my catalogue text...
'Gerard Hemsworth was my Goldsmiths MA tutor and later, my PhD studio practicing supervisor (text, Dr. Suhail Malik). After my undergraduate degree, Gerard took my level of art making and thinking to new heights, he also encouraged an ambition and art professionalism that I had not come across before. This made a great impression on me. I had the distinct impression that here was someone with real experience as an artist and who was firmly embedded in the London art world. When Gerard spoke in tutorials and seminars you took him seriously. Rigorous in his critiques and direct in his comments he was also a very perceptive communicator when it came to identifying problems. He had the rare ability to see through the smoke screens, hot air and bluster that unconfident students usually employ and would offer startlingly insightful views on what they could achieve. Even more remarkable was his uncanny ability to make you feel that you were the one making those decisions! Gerard taught us all how to go about being current, presenting ourselves seriously, curating exhibitions and above all, of having faith in our abilities.'
John Chilver
posted 03/03/2021
Gerard, I will miss you more than I can say.
As a tutor, you made me laugh a lot, think a lot, trust feelings that I couldn't rationalise, expect a lot of myself, and reach further. The years I spent with you on the Goldsmiths MA in the mid-nineties changed everything for me and made a life in art imaginable and then possible. You were always a generous mentor and supporter, a surprising mind, a wonderful artist, marvellous company, a saucy raconteur and a dear friend. Bless you, Gerard. With my deepest condolences to Sue, Ruby, Jack and Frankie, and the family.
Neddy Corbett’s Family Ireland
posted 04/03/2021
Our sincere condolences on the loss of Gerard. Fond memories of Ernie, Mary, Gerard and Anthony, when they came to Ireland to visit the greater Corbett clan in Cork. Happy days.
Les Joynes & Family
posted 04/03/2021
Dear Sue, Ruby, Jack and Frankie, With our upmost support and deepest condolences to each of you at this time remembering Gerard as such a moving force that has touched your lives. Les and Kozué Joynes
Matthew Burrows
posted 05/03/2021
Sue/Ruby/Jack/Frankie,
Around Gerard Life was always a puzzle, not to be solved, but to be pondered. He approached art and artists in much the same way, he had an open hearted curiosity and care for you and what you did. This gave his words a playful exactitude, a kind of sharpness that cut straight to the point yet left the windows of possibility open. What a rare gift that is. I only got to know Gerard well over the last ten years, but in that short time I have many great memories and moments of insight that have inspired, guided and given me much amusement. Despite his absence his influence and legacy run broad and deep.
Love to all at this difficult time.
Matthew x
Lindsay Alker & Mario Rossi
posted 05/03/2021
Dear Sue, Ruby, Jack & Frankie,
We have lost a very dear friend . We will miss Gerard's acerbic wit, warmth & kindness . The tributes written by friends, students & artists have been very moving & reflect how influential a supporter he was for so many . Hastings will not be the same without the presence of Gerard & his keen eye, he will be sorely missed .
Sending our love to you all Lindsay & Mario x
Brian Deighton and Gill Calvert
posted 05/03/2021
Gerard.
We will miss you. We will miss your paintings, your insightful comments on art, your taste and effortless ability to ‘swerve' (as a true 1960s person). We’ll miss your generosity, humour and warmth, and your essential presence at PVs and the Hastings Art Club. We wondered at the amazing way that you, Sue and the dog calmly inhabited the caravan, broken by somewhat challenging forays to places where your art, or interesting building fixtures were to be seen. We all miss you. With love to Sue and the family.
Juan Bolivar
posted 07/03/2021
Dear Gerard,
In writing these words the past tense does not apply. You live in our minds because you give so much and are in many ways still present. I hope that wherever you are, you are happy painting, telling stories and causing mischief. You are and forever will be, the big fish.
In admiration and gratitude for your kindness and wisdom.
Yours,
Juan & Karen
May Everard
posted 07/03/2021
Gerard had a good life and left hus mark on this world. His death is sad news.
May Everard
posted 07/03/2021
A huge loss to Sue, Ruby, Jack & Frank, Matthew, Jane & Finn. Also all his family & friends. He had a good life and left hus mark on this world.
Thomas Lawson and Susan Morgan
posted 07/03/2021
We are heartbroken, and will always remember Gerard's sly humour and his generosity of spirit. So many stories.
Sally Kindberg
posted 07/03/2021
My deepest deepest and most sincere condolences to the family. Gerard, you made such an impact on me. I am so grateful for your generosity, for caring, for your knowledge. You will always be in my heart.
Thomas Grünfeld
posted 08/03/2021
Dear Sue,
Dear Jack, Frankie and Ruby,
Just heard the sad news. Spending several weeks in your house in Beacon Hill around the turn of the millenium, I still remember the evenings coming back from Goldsmiths and spend the early evenings with all of you. What a loss. My deepest compassion.
Txxx
Dan Sturgis
posted 08/03/2021
Gerard - it is shocking to think you will not be there. You gave so much - and inspired so many through your paintings and teaching. The MA you built at Goldsmiths in the mid-90s was the model of excellence and you showed us the seriousness of our endeavour with wit and wisdom. I am so grateful to have experienced it.
Thank you for your friendship and for your generosity.
With huge respect and much love to Sue and all the family.
miho sato
posted 08/03/2021
when I was a student at the Royal academy He taught me. After graduation I visited his studio . The conversation i had with him i still remember and helped me during the time and touched my heart! Gerard was one of the very important and inspiring teacher. Thank you Gerard and I will miss you. and Lucky to meet you! miho sato
DiDi Lin
posted 08/03/2021
Dearest Gerard,
I have just found this photo, just want to share it with you on top of my previous message which is already on the message board.
Miss you a lot!
Love,DiDi
Ann & Mick Looney (nee Duggan)
posted 08/03/2021
Sincere sympathy to Sue,Ruby,Jack,Frankie,Matthew and Jane on the sad passing of Gerard. We have many happy memories of Gerard coming to Ireland on holidays and especially to Crosshaven which he loved. May he rest in peace.
Breda O'Donovan
posted 08/03/2021
Sincere condolence to Sue Ruby Jack Frankie Matthew Jane on Gerard passing.Great memerories of summer holidays with Gerard and Anthony in Crosshaven in Cork he was always great fun and kept everyone entertained he'll be missed by all
Joe and Hermione
posted 08/03/2021
We will greatly miss Gerard, he was a big part of the artist community in Hastings and St Leonards and any night out or private view was always enhanced by his presence (and sardonic wit!) We feel very lucky that we were able to continue enjoying his company in socially distanced visits to the house after lockdown. Our thoughts are with you Sue, Ruby Jack and Frankie at this time,
Lots of love,
Joe & Hermione xxx
(pic is Gerard in the Horse and Groom with us after a Solaris opening)
Thomas and Sylvia Rehbein
posted 09/03/2021
We met Gerard 1997 through Anthony Reynolds.
In 1998 we started to work with him, always with a lot of respect, love and admiration for his work.
After all these years we became close friends and he was more for us than a talented artist of the gallery.
Unforgettable the dinners with wine, laughter and conversations.
We mourn the loss of his charismatic and humorous friend.
Our love and compassion is with Sue and the children.
Sylvia and Thomas Rehbein
Thomas Rehbein Gallery
Paco de Quesada
posted 09/03/2021
Thank you Gerard for your encouragement and for the laughs; for the time that you so generously gave to local artists. I will be always be grateful that our paths crossed; your guidance and acceptance meant so much to me. I will miss your cheeky smile, your kindness, and your charismatic presence. We are poorer for your loss, we are richer for having known you. With love, Paco de Quesada
Nick, Jane & Johnny
posted 10/03/2021
It's so very hard to come to terms with Gerard not being around anymore. He was one incredibly loved man. He had such a big heart and so kind to lots of people, including ourselves. Our hearts go out to Sue and all the children. He was an amazing creator of art, love and life and will never be forgotten. All our love Nick, Jane and Johnny xxx
Lindsay Seers
posted 10/03/2021
Some people are inscribed deep inside one, as if embedded in the very material of the body. They remain vivid when much fades. This man is one of those people. We see him and feel him with ease. x
Caroline McCarthy
posted 10/03/2021
Dearest Gerard, a sad loss for those who had the privilege to be at Goldsmiths during your time there. You threaded so many people and generations together, upon whom you made such an impact. You will forever remain significant to us. Rest in peace X
Annie Whiles
posted 11/03/2021
I will feel ever thankful and lucky to have had Gerard as a teacher and friend. He had a way of giving me and others an ease with their oddness and a dignity in not having answers. Having a ciggie with Gerard was one of life's delights.
gabriel kuri
posted 11/03/2021
Dear Sue
I don’t think we met in person, or at least we never spoke. My name is Gabriel Kuri and I was a student at the MA in Goldsmith’s between 1993 and 1995.
I was terribly saddened to read in Alastair Mckinven´s instagram post that Gerard passed away. I immediately reached out to Koushna (in London), Thomas (in Berlin) and Oswaldo (in the US), the three classmates that I remain in close contact with, and whom I know have great appreciation and love for Gerard. They were all still unaware and we shared our momentarily disbelief and shared our sadness.
I arrived in London in September 1993 having never been to the old continent before (I am from Mexico). Gerard took me under his wing immediately and remained my mentor for my entire two years at college. I learned a great deal from my experience at Goldmith´s and my new life away from home in London in the mid nineties. I will always have a very special place in my heart for Gerard. He had a gift for guiding aspiring artists through that rite of passage that post grad education is. Not only he had a gift for that, but also managed to maintain the integrity, focus and relevance on his own oeuvre, a feat that not many successful teachers are able to pull through. After I left school, I shared a studio with Alastair in Kentish town. A couple of years after I left London, I went back for a visit and learned that Gerard had temporarily moved into this old studio of ours. I turned up unannounced and he invited me in for tea.
It made me very proud and happy, years down the line, to be able to invite him to my first exhibition at Sadie Coles gallery (in 2008) and later my solo at South London Gallery (in 2011). He turned up to both and stayed for the dinner afterwards. I could feel he was genuinely proud for me too.
Although many years have passed since I went to Goldsmith’s, it is such an important period of my life that I think of it in the present tense, always. It really does sadden me a lot to feel forced to speak of Gerard in the past tense. I can only imagine what it must be for you.
I can also imagine that you must be receiving numerous demonstrations of affection and admiration from the many artists that Gerard made a mark on. I hope that my words manage to make you smile.
warmest regards
gabriel
Diann H Bauer
posted 11/03/2021
Gerard, where to begin? You were such a huge figure in the lives of so many artists - and what a privilege it is to be among them. Your mark is deep and everlasting on so many of us. You were able to look at work and very quickly fully comprehend what was going on, what was going wrong, to articulate a broad understanding of what it was that each of us fundamentally do — or wanted to do — and, importantly, how to help each of us get to that same level of understanding around our own work that seemed to come to you with such ease. The last time I saw you was about 18 months ago when we went down to see the new place. I wish we had been able to do one more trip.
I also have to mention on a personal note the profound effect you had on my own life for which I will forever be indebted. Recently I saw a social media post asking something like ‘what event made the most drastic effect on your life?’ I think you were responsible for this in my case. After finishing my MA I was awarded a fellowship allowing me to stay in the UK and maintain a studio at Goldsmiths for a year, a decision you were responsible for. If I had gone back to NY straight away (which I would otherwise have had to do) there would be no marriage to S, and no R — undoubtedly no lots of other things too, but those two seem top of the list for significance.
In short, I have always felt in some ways that I have you to thank, not just for guidance as an artist, but really for making my life what it is.
Gerard, you will be greatly missed and forever appreciated and in our hearts and indeed the hearts and studios of so many around the globe.
Suhail Malik
posted 11/03/2021
It's hard to find the words adequate to my admiration for Gerard. My gratitude too. To have affected so many people in such different yet profound ways, for so long.... What a remarkable man.
And to have this influence with his typically light touch, understated considerateness and benevolently sly humour.... Gerard's quick grin, his one-handed shrug, his enjoyment of the ridiculous, his raised eyebrow, the judicious question in the middle of a puzzling parable: so many ways to throw you of your guard, reassure you, have you searching for an answer even before you realised you'd been asked a question; to make you feel as though your confusion was the right demand instead of an impediment — all of this and more made Gerard an incredible, searching teacher, a reassuring mentor, someone I'm honoured to have called a friend.
Like so many others, I can't recount all the ways Gerard changed my life, and did so all the way through. It would take too long — as long as I have. Yes, practically, I literally cannot think of what my life would have been without Gerard's support and, at crucial times, when things were not looking good, his judicious and unobtrusively caring interventions. But also, as others have said so eloquently, Gerard found ways to give dignity, protect from the bombast of those more sure of themselves, and have respect for that in so many of us which didn't quite make sense to ourselves or to others; to find a way of showing that *for this reason* what we wanted to put into the world had merit, that it should be seen and heard.
In the best way - an inimitable way - Gerard made space and time for the sense and the nonsense of this world, of who each one of us is, so that our own unique puzzles could become shared pleasures.
Thank you Gerard.
GillianHemsworth
posted 12/03/2021
With deepest sympathy for your loss a wonderful idea to scatter Gerard’s ashes in your wildflower garden
Kim Pace & Nick Pace
posted 16/03/2021
We’ll always be grateful to Gerard & Sue for the way they made us feel welcome when we moved to the Hastings area.
We’ll miss Gerard’s warmth, wit, generous spirit and relaxed friendliness.
A social evening in Hastings will be a much poorer experience for us without Gerard there. He was a lovely, big-hearted man and a wonderful artist.
Love Kim & Nick xx
Harry Philbrick
posted 05/04/2021
Gerard had a profound influence on my life for which I shall be forever grateful. He was a caring, insightful, compassionate, and daring human being; kind, and humorous. He saw past the nonsense to the essence - all of this informed him as an inspirational teacher and great artist. I miss him deeply, and send love and condolences to Sue and his family, with gratitude for the joy and support they gave Gerard.
Alexandra Drawbridge
posted 23/04/2021
I love this picture of Gerard from his preview at Solaris. I miss him very much, but through his work he continues to be part of our lives, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have known him. Sending love to Sue and the family. Alex x
Sally Lindberg
posted 29/03/2024
Gerard and Sue met me and my friend Michael when we first visited them in London back in 1978. Such a charming, delightful couple who showed us around London our first time and helped us not be so American. I last saw them when they stayed at my rental in Paris where I worked in high fashion. I am so sorry to see Gerard has left us too early, happy they had a family together, and wish Sue could make contact somehow if she ever plans to visit the US, especially the SW, Yours truly, Sally
John Troisi
posted 13/03/2025
Sorry to hear about the demise of Mr . Hemsworth it is a great loss to his family and the art world .
I am trying to locate Matthew his son , I used to be a close friend when we were at East Ham College . We fell out over puff and I didn’t see him for 40 years ( I’m a creative photographer and I was at a view a few months ago and I saw one of his pictures and thought fondly of Mat.
Perhaps you can pass the message on .
