30/1/2008
Shara Hughes
Museum 52, London
Thank you for hosting. For the exhibition Hughes has made a series of paintings using numerous materials that coalesce in a harmonious clamor of colour and texture. The paintings depict interiors. She presents spaces that seem, partly through their distorted perspective, nonfunctional, however, they do not appear lifeless.
Museum 52 is pleased to present the first solo show in the UK for American artist
Shara Hughes.
For the exhibition Hughes has made a series of paintings using numerous
materials that coalesce in a harmonious clamor of colour and texture. The
paintings depict interiors. Hughes presents spaces that seem, partly through their
distorted perspective, nonfunctional, however, they do not appear lifeless.
Geometric objects, furniture and everyday items occupy the rooms. These items
emphasis the incongruous notion of depth to the paintings and the assemblage of
media used to create them.
“I like having people ask me or question what something is, or why
something is there. I answer it simply. That’s a goldfish…those are
stairs…that’s a triangle… In some way, explaining that it's only a
staircase is not an answer for what it's doing there, why it's not going
anywhere, or why I chose to use the paint or colors in such a way to
create the shape”.
Hughes’ concern is not necessarily with what is painted but with the painting itself.
Despite the somewhat illustrative nature of the works, her decisions are dictated
by form, material and the nature of representation itself rather than narrative. The
shapes, the furniture, the paint application and references to art history
continuously match up to a resurfacing question: what is art and how many ways
can we describe everything? By using different techniques to create a space
Hughes is able to refer to something specific and simultaneously nothing at all.
Hughes sees the gap between object, image, paint and idea as the most
intriguing space. She is interested in not having to decide on what something is
and instead allowing it to exist undefined.
Hughes graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design. She is represented by
Rivington Arms Gallery in New York where she had her first solo show last year.
She will also feature in Unreal: Altered Perspectives In Painting at the newly located
Saatchi Gallery.
Private View 31 January 2008
Museum 52
52 Redchurch Street - London
Wednesday - Saturday 11am - 6pm