Ian Hughes
"My artwork represents a longstanding belief in the possibility of translating human experience and feeling through the raw materials of painting. For quite some time I have been probing an artistic vein in which naturalistic forms shape-shift inside an abstract color space. The figuration is rooted in the human body, and more specifically, the links between brain and viscera. The physicality of working large allows the body to override the brain; only then does the door open to serendipity. When successful, the imagery and the materials combine to create a psychological and emotional charge with the viewer.
I don’t think of myself as a figurative painter, and yet figuration clearly looms large in these paintings. Indeed, this body of work belongs to an ongoing series titled “Twisted Figures”, a play on both the literal meaning of twisted (coiled, torqued, wrung) and the non-literal (warped, unstable, abnormal). I’m not interested in narratives, but I am interested in the potential for metaphor. I think of these paintings as of the body and embodiments of… They are very physical in their making, visceral in appearance, and suggest a figure under intense stress, embattled, and thus very much of our world."
- Ian Hughes (artist statement)
Ian Hughes’ paintings probe an artistic vein in which naturalistic forms shape-shift on top of a flat color-space. He explores the psychological and emotional link between the brain and the viscera, forming a kind of connective tissue with the viewer. Fluid, intertwining, and semi-transparent forms exude a bodily presence while suggesting a tangle of shifting associations. Hughes seduces with sensuous textures and a luscious palette of chromatic pinks, yellows and turquoise blues modulated by pearl whites and carbon blacks. For Hughes, the color field is a stage on which to choreograph a visual and psychological drama.
Hughes’ work has appeared in numerous group shows in New York City, including featured exhibitions at The Drawing Center (Selections 31) and a White Room exhibit at White Columns (1991) curated by Bill Arning. In 1998, Artists’ Space featured three large Hughes paintings in an exhibition celebrating its 25th Anniversary and curated by Irving Sandler, Founder, and Claudia Gould, Director. Hughes received his B.A. in 1981 from Yale College, where he also attended the Yale Summer School of Art at Norfolk, CT, and his MFA in 1984 from Columbia University School of Art. He was selected for a solo booth in the 2012 inaugural edition of UNTITLED: Miami, curated by Omar Lopez-Chahoud. Hughes lives and works in New York City.
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First Annual Good on Paper Exhibit: Drawings and Paintings
18 Mar - 30 Apr 2022532 Gallery Good on Paper ExhibitionRead more -
Context Art Miami 2021
1 - 19 Dec 2021 -
Ten Years After
11 Jan - 16 Feb 2018Gustavo Acosta Gustavo Acosta was born in in Havana, Cuba in 1958, and is currently based in Miami. His intensely hued portrayals of sites in Havana, Miami, New York, and...Read more -
Winter Salon 2017
4 Feb - 4 Mar 2017It’s that time of the year for the gallery’s annual Winter Salon. This show features new works by Gustavo Acosta, Bernard Ammerer, Bergman & White, Marcy Brafman, Kathy Bruce, Marie...Read more -
Winter Salon
5 - 22 Feb 2016Jaeckel Gallery is pleased to present a winter group show. This show features many returning artists to our gallery, as well as a few artists showing with us for the...Read more -
Twisted Figures
9 Oct - 8 Nov 2014Over the arc of his career, Ian Hughes has honed a distinctive visual language in which paint reveals its lushest and most viscous qualities while simultaneously giving shape to bio-reminiscent...Read more -
Ian Hughes- Solo Show
26 Apr - 26 May 2012Gallery 532 Thomas Jaeckel is pleased to present the paintings of Ian Hughes in his second one-man show at the gallery. In this new body of work, Hughes brings to...Read more -
Inside out
10 May - 7 Jun 2010 -
Paper in the Wind
23 Jun - 7 Jul 2009Rosa Almeida, Marcy Brafman, Zac Braun, Amy Chaiklin, Chrissy Conant, Veronica Cross, Alicia Gibson, James Gilroy, Ian Hughes, Liz Insogna, Yuliya Lanina, D. Dominick Lombardi, Sandra Mack-Valencia, Norma Markley, Jesse...Read more