Biography
Hughes’ works are circumstantial. Fascinated with the material world of objects, the work is an amalgamation of the environment he comes into contact with. His magpie mentality means his work extends beyond the material to draw ideas from places, such as hand made signs seen in windows and old stepladders, proving that nothing is off limits. It can take years for categories, patterns and connections to realise themselves into a body or individual work. Hughes approaches all aspects of his process with care and dedication; collecting, stacking and piling are treated equally to the casting process that involves multiple hands. Through perverse humour, Hughes’ democratisation of material, space and category asks us to question the hierarchies we have placed on them. His cross-stitch work exhibits tension between the dynamism of the quickly drawn scribble and the restraint and measure it takes to stitch.