Finding inspiration for his work both at home and in the Welsh countryside and its traditions, and a more diverse range of cultural and historical moments.
This series of work is a striking example of Hughes’s ability to merge ideas and imagery from a variety of sources, “these are disruptive and exciting times” aptly sums up the most recent work. The subject matter and narrative belongs to the past, but the imagery to the present day.
A hybrid fusion of traditional and contemporary material and ethereal, symbolic and real, demonstrates the power of the image to speak in ways which are fresh, bold and challenging.
Influenced by the writings of Roger Caillous -‘ Aur coeur du fantastique’ (At the Heart of the Fantastic) and the incredible anatomical wax effigies of The La Specola Museum, Florence. Hughes suggests that transcribed, the paintings are about symbolic fantasies, where resemblance is exchanged for dissemblance, appearance for disappearance and the material exchanged for the – ‘indistinct breath of the image’
Hannah O’Leary -2002